


three things。

by Lilyliegh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Link Vrains, Emotions, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, M/M, POV Multiple, Scenery Porn Descriptions, School, Slow Burn, Time Travel, kind of like a crossover but with the vrains cast in the your name 'verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-04-30 12:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 63,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14496762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilyliegh/pseuds/Lilyliegh
Summary: What if there's someone standing at the other end of Stardust Road looking back at him? What if there's another person out there looking at the same, beautiful sight as him and seeing something entirely different? What if, at the end of this road, there exists a place beyond his imagination – and what if, on that other side, the person looking back at him sees something so breathtaking too?"Three things," he says. "Always remember three things.”Based on the series Your Name/Kimi no Na wa.





	1. one。

**Author's Note:**

> hi there! this is my datastorm/your name crossover! i've been dying to post this new project!  
> for this story, posting is guaranteed to happen on Mondays unless i state otherwise; however, i'm not sure if i will be able to post twice per week, so if i can, a second update will appear on Thursdays.
> 
> without further ado, enjoy the story!

"Hello? Yes, it's me. Father? Yes, I'm outside looking at the stars. I see it – see what you've made for me. It's ... nice. Lots of colour." Ryouken pauses, adjusting the phone pressed to his ear. "It's ... more beautiful than anything I've seen before."

It truly is. Stardust Road, his father called it: a path traveling through Link Vrains to what Ryouken can only imagine is a foreign planet. No matter how far he throws his gaze, he can't see to the other side of the road. On the phone, his father chuckles and doesn't tell him where the path leads to.

"... thanks," Ryouken says, lips pulled down in a pout. But the further he gazes down the path, the more curious he becomes. What if there's someone standing at the other end of the road looking back at him? What if there's another person out there looking at the same, beautiful sight as him and seeing something entirely different? What if, at the end of this road, there exists a place beyond his imagination – and what if, on that other side, the person looking back at him sees something so breathtaking too?

With a small chuckle, Ryouken wonders if, at the other end of Stardust Road, someone might just be standing there, searching, listening – so he calls out to them.

"Three things," he says. "Always remember three things."

A cool breeze catches on his cheeks, rustling his hair. Ryouken narrows his eyes and strains his ears for any returning voice, but all he hears is the wind rustling over Link Vrains. Rather than turn away though, Ryouken settles down on the ground by Stardust Road and gazes out. He sits and waits, hoping – just hoping – that he'll see a figure in the distance.

* * *

When Yuusaku wakes up, it feels like his heart is in his throat. He struggles to take a breath and pull himself together, but his mind is lost in another universe and can't get back. He reigns in his wild thoughts, willing himself to slow down and breathe easily. It takes a few minutes of breathing exercises to get himself settled, but when he does he can see the glimmer of light creeping through the edges of the skylight over his head, and around him Yuusaku sees the blankets and sheets that he's kicked off during his sleep.

At the corner of his mind, Yuusaku feels a nagging thought. It's deep and persistent, unable to be shaken away now that he's more fully awake, and yet when he tries to recall it he finds he can't. It's as if the thought isn't meant to be found just yet, which only puts Yuusaku in a foul mood.

With a sigh, he drags himself to his feet and stumbles out of the van. To his surprise, it's not the faint morning light that he saw peeking from the skylight, but in fact beaming morning sunshine – it's well past his normal time to wake up, and therefore well past the time he should be in class. It's not the first time he's been late before though, so he meanders to school. He's still wearing yesterday's school uniform, so he doesn't have to get dressed or anything.

As he walks to school, the thought keeps nagging at him like a pesky itch, yet whenever he tries to to think about it, it only seems to burrow further in his mind. Eventually, he gives up and hurries through the gates to his school. The courtyard is blessedly empty, and inside the red-brick building the hallways are equally silent. His class isn't though: when Yuusaku steps through the front doors, he's met by every single pair of eyes in the room as everyone turns to face him.

"Fujiki, seat," the teacher says, nodding towards his desk at the back.

Yuusaku nods his head. He holds back his tongue from saying, _You didn't have to announce my entrance,_ but then it doesn't matter anyways because as soon as he sits down Naoki, the boy sitting next to him, shouts, "Fujiki! You made it!"

"Yep," Yuusaku says, mumbling the words under his breath. He faces forward, pointedly ignoring the way Naoki leans closer and begins passing notes to him. Ahead of them, the students have returned to listening to the teacher at the front of the class explain a problem on the board. Yuusaku has seen it before in one of his old workbooks, and once he realises what the answer is, he rests his head down on his folded arms and closes his eyes.

"Fujiki. Fujiki, you sleeping?" Naoki says.

Yuusaku grunts and prays that Naoki might get the message.

No such thing.

"Fujiki, you're missing the lesson."

Yuusaku cracks one eye open. Naoki, while a well-meaning student, has the sort of voice that drills into Yuusaku's head every morning. Naoki has also leaned closer, putting his large, curled lips and wide nose smack in front of Yuusaku's face. The more Yuusaku stares – and he tries not to – the more freckles he can spot across Naoki's nose.

"Fujiki?"

Yuusaku closes his eyes.

This time, Naoki doesn't bother him until class is done, and this time he's dragged along another student. When Yuusaku opens his eyes, there's a girl standing beside Naoki. Her short, brown hair cups her heart shaped face, and she doesn't smile. Instead, she crosses her arms tightly across her chest and stares down at her feet.

"You got a new deck, didn't you?" Naoki says. He leans closer, his short legs stretching to see the cards in her hands. "Aoi, you've got Trickstars, right?"

"Right," Aoi says. She glances at Yuusaku, and the fans the cards out for him to see too. Yuusaku knows most of the cards, and he's not surprised that a closet idol fan such as Aoi has an entire deck dedicated to beautiful, idol-like cards. She must have a Melodious deck too, though, despite hanging out with her recently, Yuusaku hasn't seen her duel all that much.

"Come on, come on – we should duel!" Naoki grabs Aoi and Yuusaku by the shoulders and tugs them together. While Aoi gets caught in Naoki's grip, at once Yuusaku wiggles away and puts a solid three feet of distance between them. He shrugs off the residual feeling of being touched too.

However, now that he's stepped away from Naoki and Aoi, Yuusaku spots something peeking out of Naoki's bag – a book, in fact, with a brightly-coloured front page. Naoki's eyes narrow down on it too, and with a crow of delight he releases Aoi from his hold and swipes up the book in his bag. "You see this, Fujiki?" he says, waving the book back and forth. "It's my new dueling guide!"

"Dueling guide?" Aoi repeats.

Naoki nods, his eyes suddenly filled with stars. "I saw it at the bookstore and bought it at once. Look, there are all sorts of guides and quizzes about different kinds of duelists and which ones you should be, and then this section here is all about deck and monster strategies and how to build the best deck. My deck's already top-notch, but I figured you two might want to have a look at it."

"Because our decks aren't top-notch?" Aoi says, raising a slender, brown eyebrow.

Naoki's cheeks darken. "That's not what I meant at all, Zaizen – honest."

Yuusaku, however, ignores the conversation in favour of staring at the book. He too saw it in the bookstore window when he went to school this morning, and though it hadn't gripped his attention at the time, now Yuusaku stares it with renewed fascination. He's already got a deck too, and there wouldn't be any need for him to tune it up. However, Yuusaku knows what else is in that book and what Naoki failed to mention: Link Vrains. It's a new form of dueling that hasn't arrived in Den City yet, though without a doubt Sol Technologies has included some spoilers and hints about the new technology.

Yuusaku holds out his hand. "Let me see."

Naoki, who had been previously been showing Aoi the Trickstars section, stops. "Huh? You want to see it too?"

Yuusaku nods, hand still outstretched.

With a smile, Naoki flips it closed and passes it over.

Yuusaku wastes no time skimming through the pages, looking for any information he can about Link Vrains. As Naoki said before, the first section is all fill-in-the-blank quizzes that offer suggestions for what decks future duelists may want to look into. Then there are sections on specific strategies for deck types and monster types. The book is meant for beginners, so there are even handy guides about how to build decks and balance out the number of monster, spell, and trap cards included.

Towards the back though, Yuusaku finds what he's looking for: Link Vrains news or, more specifically, concept art of the futuristic dueling system. To Yuusaku, it all look vaguely familiar to the hacking skills Kusanagi has taught him, but even then the scope of Link Vrains takes his breath away. It's set to be an entire dueling city where duelists ride on D-Boards and battle on starlit paths. There are central hubs where duelists can meet and chat, bringing in a virtual community aspect to the otherwise two-player dueling system.

Just as Yuusaku is flipping the page, he feels someone's breath on his shoulder.

"Oh, you're looking at the new tech!" Naoki says.

Yuusaku steps away, brushing off where Naoki's chin had been resting.

Aoi, standing not a foot away, raises her chin so she can see the page too. "That's what my brother has been working on," she says, almost too softly for Yuusaku to clearly hear her.

Naoki hears her loud and clear though. "Oh that's right! Your brother's the head of the company, ain't he? Or at least some big fancy corporate head, right?"

"He's the security manager," Aoi says, in the same, distant voice. She glances up at Yuusaku. "Are you interested in Link Vrains?"

Yuusaku nods his head. Though he won't admit it to them, he truly can't wait for the grand opening. He already has enough money saved for the technology required to access Link Vrains; he's been saving ever since he first heard the news. He's researched as much as he can about it too, and though it seems a bit unfamiliar and strange, Yuusaku has to admit that he's excited for once. Normally, technology always makes him feel a bit strange – can't people cyber-stalk you or something? But then, with Link Vrains, he'll be able to duel anonymously and he won't have to be coaxed into dueling Naoki who, while charming, hasn't ever won a duel against Yuusaku.

The more Yuusaku looks at Link Vrains, the greater the longing in his heart becomes. The nagging feeling in his mind seems to disappear too, and a weight lifts of his shoulders for the first time that day.

"You know," Aoi says, "you'll need to make an avatar to enter Link Vrains."

Yuusaku raises his head. He already knows that: that information was released with last month's update. Since that day, Yuusaku has already planned what his avatar will look like. He'll be Playmaker, a yellow-and-pink-haired duelist who never reveals his true identity. Though Kusanagi has said that the avatar looks a bit too much like him in person, Yuusaku thinks that no one will connect him to Playmaker.

"I can't wait to be able to duel people," Naoki says. He jabs a finger at the concept art of a bunch of duelists sitting around little white tables in what appears to be a market square. The blue sky and tall, concrete buildings give Link Vrains a metropolis look, far unlike the smaller, cosier Den City. "See those people? Those will be duelists from every corner of the universe, I bet. Imagine getting to meet people who you'd probably never see before in your life – and you can become best friends with them!"

While Aoi gives a small smile, Yuusaku frowns. He doesn't really care all that much about the social aspects of dueling, so long as he has enough opponents to face. Yuusaku is much more interested in the variety of duelists he'll be able to face.

"When's the date again?" Naoki asks Aoi.

"One month."

Sighing, Yuusaku glances out the classroom window. In his mind, he tries to picture what Link Vrains might look like in virtual reality. Will it look realistic? Will he be able to duel people? Will he be able to see their skill level so that he'll know if they're worth his time? The more questions that appear in his head though, the more Yuusaku begins to remember. In fact, it feels like he's dreamt this all before. Yuusaku glances back down at the book ... but no, the answers to those questions wouldn't be in this book at all.

_Have I dreamt of Link Vrains before? I hope I did. I hoped I dreamt of Playmaker, my future avatar, and walking down the starlight path._

It's not until after Yuusaku leaves the school that he remembers there were no pictures of Stardust Road in either the book Naoki brought or in any of the information brochures he's seen about Link Vrains.

* * *

He wakes up to the blaring noise of his alarm clock. He slowly opens his eyes and gazes around blearily. To his surprise, there isn't that much light out – a bit of sunlight creeping through the corners of the skylight, but otherwise a dark morning. Though he can't see much, he sees he's lying on a bed squeezed into a corner of what appears to be a metal room. There is nothing on the walls, not even posters or pictures to help him understand where he is.

 _Where ... am I?_ he wonders.

The door flies open with a loud _screech!_ and bangs on the wall with a resounding _thunk!_ He leaps upright, heart racing in his throat. Where – where is this place? And who's come in?

Standing in the doorway is a little, purple and black creature, looking a bit like an alien from a sci-fi novel. Despite only having eyes and no mouth or nose, the creature is surprisingly expressive. It's eyes widen to half the size of the creatures face, and from _somewhere_ it says, "Oi, Mr. Playmaker? You still sleeping?"

_Play ... maker? Who's that?_

The little creature stumbles over the bed. Now that it's approached, he can see that this purple and black thing has arms, hands, legs, and feet, and they work just like a human. It walks like a human too, climbing over the blankets and sheets to stand on his knees. As he glances down at the creature though, it's then he realises that his body looks ... different. It's neither older nor younger, but his limbs are a touch shorter and scrawnier, and he's wearing a blue, rumpled uniform.

He feels a blush rise to his cheeks. Wait ... what's going on here?

Before he can even ask anything, the purple creature climbs up onto his knees and gazes deep, into his eyes. "You blushing, Mr. Playmaker? Did you have a _good dream?"_

 _A good –?_ He feels his cheeks burn, and he raises a hand to his face to hide himself.

"You did, didn't you?" the creature teases. "Oh boy, well I've leave you to your business then. Come on out when you're done because ..." The creature leaps off his knee, sailing through the air like a kite. It lands on its feet though, throwing its little arms up in the air. Then the creature winks, and it crows out, "Time – to – eat!"

 _Slam!_ goes the door in his face.

"H ... huh?" he says, and he slaps a hand over his lips. His voice ... his voice is different too? No wait, everything is different. Quickly he begins patting down his arms and legs, feeling the unfamiliar shapes of his body. Everything feels different like he's stepped into someone else's skin. And around him too – this place and that creature were things that he's never, ever seen before.

 _Am I ... in a dream?_ he wonders. This isn't the sort of dream he normally has, or would even wish to have. Heck, where has he even ended up? He feels like he's trapped inside some tin can with a talking alien! But then, where is this supposed to be? And who is he? If he has somehow managed to wake up in another place and in another body ... who has he woken up inside?

With a thick swallow, he reaches over and grabs the cell phone. With the alarm no longer blaring, he holds the phone up and flips the camera so that he can see his reflection. In the little screen, he sees a foreign face, blue and pink bangs swooping left over his eyebrows. His eyes are green, his face thin and angular, and most importantly, it's not his face. No, none of this is him at all!

He presses a hand to his forehead, shutting his eyes so that he doesn't have to stare back at the stranger in the camera. As his mind races laps trying to come to any conclusion about how this could happen, he feels a faintly familiar beating inside his heart. Tentatively, he presses his hand to his chest. It's the only part of him that feels the same, as if whoever's body he's in has a synced-up heartbeat to him.

 _That doesn't really matter though,_ he thinks to himself. _After all, whose body is this? And where am I? And when I open my eyes ... who are you looking back at me?_


	2. two。

When Yuusaku wakes up in the morning, for once his heart isn't racing quite as much. He still feels like he's run a mile, and there's sticky sweat on his neck, but his eyes don't dart around the cramped quarters of his room, and he only has to take a couple breaths before he pushes himself off of the bed. He's woken up early too, and the sight of the sun peeking through the skylight brings a tiny smile to his face.

Since it's early in the morning, Yuusaku knows that Kusanagi and AI aren't awake yet. In fact, he can't hear them, and since neither of them are quiet, he knows they must both be sleeping.

As quietly as he can, Yuusaku creeps out his bed and into the bathroom. He washes his face and neck, and shoves his head under the tap to clean the gunk out of his hair. When he looks in the mirror, hair dripping down in front of his face, he notes that the bags under his green eyes aren't quite so dark today, and that his skin looks noticeably cleaner. Has he been eating better? Sleeping better? Does that shit really make a difference

With a shrug, Yuusaku towels his hair off and combs it back. He realises he's still wearing his school uniform -- and that, after several days of wear, it's become quite rumpled, even though Yuusaku doesn't remember getting mud on his pants -- he changes into his spare uniform that hangs on the back of the bathroom door.

When he opens the door, AI stands smack in the doorway, hands on his little hips. Yuusaku nearly kicks him before he realises who is standing in his path, and even then Yuusaku just steps over the little, purple-and-black creature as he heads into the main area of the van. Kusanagi is up now too, sitting at his computer desk with a cup of coffee and a hotdog within reach.

"Morning," he says when he spots Yuusaku, and he tilts his head back to where a spare cup of coffee and a lone, plain hotdog rest. "Breakfast is there for you."

Yuusaku takes the coffee and forgoes the hotdog. He takes a deep sip and, when he lowers the cup, AI is not a foot away from his face, peering into his eyes with his own, pupiless yellow ones.

"What?" Yuusaku mumbles into his cup.

The little, spiderweb-like lines on AI's face bend together until he appears to be smiling -- or smirking, for as soon as he opens his mouth Yuusaku wishes he never asked in the first place. "Did you have a good dream last night, Mr. Playmaker?"

"... what?" Yuusaku doesn't even flinch at the obnoxious nickname AI has given him. No, what confuses Yuusaku is what AI said before. "What dream?"

"You had a  _ really  _ good dream yesterday, and you woke up with a big smile and a blush on your face." AI leans closer. "Is that why you were in the bathroom so early in the morning?"

He probably  _ should  _ be blushing now, but Yuusaku only tilts his head to the side and frowns. "I don't even get you," he says at last, and shrugs his shoulders. "Whatever."

AI lets out a long, lofty sigh.

Meanwhile, Kusanagi nearly snorts out his coffee cup. He clears his throat though when Yuusaku glances his way, one eyebrow raised. "You see the news this morning?" Kusanagi asks him.

"The news?" Yuusaku repeats.

Kusanagi beckons him closer with a wave of his hand. On his computer screen is the newest intel about Link Vrains. Yuusaku has seen some of it before, but there's new information from it now, and not from anyone that he wants to hear about. While a fair part of the duelist community has readily accepted Link Vrains and eagerly awaits its release, there's a minority community that has taken a stand against it. And there on the screen is one such protest.

Down by his elbow, AI climbs to see the screen too. "Ooh," he says. "Looks like Hanoi is at it again. What? Do they not want  _ anything  _ to progress?"

Yuusaku frowns. The Knights of Hanoi are a group of active protestors against a  _ part  _ of Sol Technologies' release of Link Vrains -- namely, the existence of AIs. Yuusaku doesn't understand what the big deal is when AIs are already present in dueling, but apparently the AIs that Sol Technologies have created -- Ignises, they have called them -- pose a new threat to humanity and dueling.

Or so the Knights of Hanoi say.

Chuckling into his coffee, Kusanagi says, "Don't they already know that there are smart AIs out there?"

"Like  _ me!"  _ AI crows. "Ain't the Hanoi lucky they haven't met  _ me  _ yet?"

"They never will," Yuusaku says. "You will stay  _ here,  _ in this van, with Kusanagi."

AI's face droops down as if its melted, and looking all-too-familiar to a pout. "I'm like a prisoner in my own house -- not, in a  _ hotdog van." _

"There are far worse places you could be," Kusanagi says with a shrug. "Besides, you don't want to be found out by the Hanoi or by Sol Tech."

Kusanagi switches the webpage to an article of Zaizen Akira's recent announcement to Den City. While Yuusaku loves the concept of Link Vrains and VR dueling, he's not nearly as keen on Akira. When Yuusaku looks at Akira, he sees a guy with shady business relations. Akira went from being a nobody to one of the lead creators and programmers of Link Vrains. As far as Yuusaku is aware, that kind of programming talent doesn't appear out of thin air. Furthermore, while Akira gives frequent press conference and announcements about Link Vrains, there have been a lot of unanswered questions about certain parts of the VR dueling; in particular, the inclusion of Ignises.

As Yuusaku's mind delves into his thoughts, he feels someone tap him on the cheek -- AI, with a dastardly smirk across his face.

"What you daydreaming about, Mr. Playmaker?"

"Nothing."

"You know," AI continues, "you were acting mighty strange yesterday: didn't know your name, didn't know your way to school. Hell, you even forgot you had school, as if you'd slept through the week and forgot it was Monday --"

"But it's Monday today ..."

"And see, now you've forgotten that today is Tuesday. You feeling all right there, Mr. Playmaker? No fever?" Before Yuusaku can pull himself away, AI reaches under his bangs and presses his little hand to Yuusaku's forehead. The contact makes Yuusaku shiver -- not only does he hate people touching him, AI's hands aren't made of skin, so it feels like rubber brushing over his forehead.

Kusanagi grabs AI before he can begin to run further tests. "I'm sure Yuusaku was just tired after school and stayed up late programming. Ain't that right?"

"I ... guess." But when Yuusaku thinks back to yesterday, he can't remember it being Monday. He doesn't remember anything that happened that day. He remembers Friday, and bits and pieces of his lazy weekend, but Monday seems like a blur.

"Don't worry about it," Kusanagi says with a wink. "Nothing exciting happened."

"Only in your dreams, that is," AI says with another teasing smile. He turns to Kusanagi and his grin splits across his face. "You should have seen him yesterday, all red-faced and blushing --"

"It's too early in the morning for you," Kusanagi says, clapping his hand over AI. The little creature flattens to the ground, and then the only sound they hear is the slight whir of the computers lined all along the back wall of the van. Yuusaku glances from the hand over AI to Kusanagi, and then takes another sip of his coffee. It's probably better he doesn't ask them about what happened yesterday.

He glances back at the screen. There's now a picture of the new concept art, ideas that Yuusaku hasn't previously seen before. However, it looks vaguely familiar too. It's coloured art of a milky, starry road leading through Link Vrains. Unlike the pixelated roads that D-Boards travel on though, this road lies across the water and extends out to the horizon.

_ I wonder where it goes,  _ Yuusaku thinks. What exists on the other side of the starlit road?

Unfortunately, Yuusaku knows he won't get an answer to that question until much later, for just underneath the picture is a note that reads:  _ Please look forward to Stardust Road, along with Link Vrains technology and universe, in the release next month. _

Looks like Link Vrains is going to be as mysterious as the Ignises.

Yuusaku downs the rest of his coffee in a single gulp and brings the cup to the counter. He gives it a quick rinse and hangs in on the dish rack. When he glances back over his shoulder, Kusanagi has let AI go. Both of them are scrolling through the web for new information. On a separate computer screen, Kusanagi is running complex codes to hack away at some website or another. Yuusaku knows that Kusanagi has hacked various corporations before, but they've never come across any particularly juicy news.

Awkwardly, Yuusaku raises his hand. "I'm ... going to class."

"Have a good day at school," Kusanagi says.

AI's face splits in a bright grin. "You high-fiving us there, Mr. Playmaker?"

"Don't call me that," Yuusaku mutters, and he turns and heads out the van door. The hot sun greets him by blinding him in the eyes, and though the cool breeze tries to placate him, Yuusaku already feels hot and bothered and out of sorts and the day has just begun. He shields his eyes with his arm and peers out at the sea below. Kusanagi's hot dog van, when not parked in Den City's central square, rests out by the water. Normally, were Yuusaku feeling in better spirits, he'd smile at the sight of the ocean. Sometimes, after school, Yuusaku leans against the rails bordering the walkway along the water, and he gazes out at the deep, blue sea. He can't swim, and he's not the nature-aesthetic kind of guy ... but something about this place makes his soul feel a little bit lighter.

When he walks to school though, the trip is far less exciting. For one, Yuusaku has to walk away from the ocean and towards the town. The town is Yuusaku's least favourite place to be: it's too busy to ever feel comfortable, but not quiet enough that he can let his guard down and think no one will recognise him or try to start up a conversation. The town is far too small and he's far too recognisable. Thus, with a heavy sigh, Yuusaku resigns himself to falling in line with the other students on his way to high school.

Then there's Naoki. Yuusaku hears Naoki from a mile away; he comes bounding down the hill in great, thumping strides, swinging his arms over his head like a monkey. "Fujiki! Fujiki!"

Yuusaku is so thankful Naoki and AI have never met before for he never wants to hear Naoki's screaming "Mr. Playmaker."

Naoki keeps running down the path after him though, nearly bowling into Yuusaku who slides out of the way just in time. When Yuusaku raises his head, he spots his other classmate he knows by name: Aoi, who, unlike Naoki, walks slowly down the hill with her hands in her jacket pockets. She doesn't say hello, merely shrugs her shoulders at him,

Meanwhile, Naoki crows, "Did you see the news, Fujiki? Did you see the news?"

"Saw it," Yuusaku says.

To Yuusaku's surprise though, instead of Naoki's usual guffaw and chatter, instead he smiles a slow, eerie grin. "I'm surprised you knew what I was talking about ..."

All warning bells in Yuusaku head go off. "... huh?"

Naoki laughs outright. "Well I mean, you had no idea what I was talking about yesterday, did you know that?"

Yuusaku glances from Naoki to Aoi. Was he acting strange around them too? He can't remember a single detail of yesterday, and while Yuusaku certainly wouldn't want to hear the details recounted to him by AI, he's not too sure he wants to hear anything from Naoki either. Fortunately, it's Aoi who speaks up with a slight cough.

"You were pretty out of it yesterday," she says. "Came to school wearing a dirty uniform splashed with mud. You told us you tripped and fell. Your hair was all over the place -- your bangs were even mussed together as if you'd never seen a brush in your life. Then" -- Aoi holds out her fingers and begins counting off them -- "you didn't know where your seat was in class, or what your last name was. When the teacher called you up to the front of the class to do a problem, you didn't know her name either. And in fact you didn't know our names."

"Yeah," Naoki says, nodding his head up and down, "and you looked like a totally different person. You were so much chattier and louder, and confident and cocky. Did the hotdog guy exorcise you or something?"

Yuusaku swallows. If anyone exorcised him yesterday it would have been AI, so ...  _ Wait, was that why he was smiling?  _ Yuusaku shakes his head. No, Kusanagi wouldn't have let AI exorcise him even if he was acting bizarrely.

"He probably just had a good night's sleep," Aoi says with a shrug.

This makes Yuusaku blushes and he wishes he didn't know why. Fortunately, Naoki has begun to theorise, rubbing his chin with his thumb, and Aoi's gaze has returned to her feet; so Yuusaku begins walking towards the school. The thoughts still nag at him though. He doesn't remember anything of yesterday, and apparently he was acting different both at school and at Kusanagi's shop. Yuusaku doesn't remember feeling sick, or eating anything weird the day before that may have made him act strangely.

Yuusaku hears Aoi and Naoki hustle to catch up with him, but he ignores them. If he tells them that he doesn't remember a single thing from yesterday, they'll only worry over him and ask far too many questions. Instead, Yuusaku sticks his hands in his pockets and wanders down the path. Sure enough, not a minute later he sees something else that'll grab their attention: the Knights of Hanoi, standing around protesting the Ignises.

Yuusaku rolls his eyes at them as he passes. They aren't even worth his time. He's thankful they aren't calling technology a sin to humanity or any of that bullsit, but their paranoia over intelligent AI only makes him curious to throw his AI at them and see them cower in fear. If the Knight of Hanoi have so much time they can make a fuss in the city square, Yuusaku doubts their problems are truly that relevant or severe.

However, as they pass by, Yuusaku hears someone shout, "Zaizen's bitch -- tell your brother --"

"Fuck off," Aoi says, cutting them off. "I'm no one's messenger."

In the blink of an eye, Yuusaku sees her storm ahead, her skirt rustling against her thighs. Yuusaku doesn't hurry to catch up to her, but behind him Naoki huffs and puffs to follow both of them. Instead of walking together, they walk in a line, with Aoi at the front. Yuusaku knows better than to speak to her when she's quiet and brooding, and if it were him who heard though words, he wouldn't want anyone to speak to him either. Unfortunately, their silence gives way to the nasty rumble of gossip through the town.

"Did you hear Zaizen on the news? Is Link Vrains really what we need?"

"His daughter isn't very smart anyways -- if her brother cared for her at all, he'd stop tinkering with technology and start sending her to cram school."

Aoi's head sink lower and lower, and her shoulders stretch up to brush her earlobes. Yuusaku can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be to be the sister of Zaizen Akira. He dislikes the man, but he appreciates Aoi's silent disposition. He even feels a bit terrible that she's received so much attention and critique from Den City all because of her brother's new project. As exciting as Link Vrains may be for duelists, it's received unparalleled critique from Den City residents.

Once Yuusaku gets to school though, he can no longer think about Aoi and her problems though. The moment he steps through the school gates and into the courtyard, the world's attention seems to be on him and  _ his  _ problems. Students come up to him asking if he's feeling better today -- students that Yuusaku doesn't even recognise, but that Naoki helpfully states are his classmates.

"You were sure acting funny yesterday," Naoki says with a chuckle. "Aoi, you should tell him about yesterday --"

"No thanks ..." Aoi says. She still walks ahead of them, head bowed forward. Yuusaku sees a few curious stares travel her way, but most of the attention seems to be on him.

Yuusaku bristles as he feels someone's hand brush over his shoulder. He steps to the side to put some space between himself and his classmate, and it surprises him when he sees someone that he recognises -- not by name, but by the dueling deck she holds in her hand. Yuusaku glances down at it. A ... duelist? The one student he duels in his school are Aoi and Naoki.

"You totally rocked yesterday," the girl tells him. "We should duel again today."

"No thanks," Yuusaku says. Whatever he did yesterday, he must have had a fever or something. No way would be ever want to duel another student, especially a stranger.

At his side, Naoki's mouth drops a little. "Aw, but you were so good, Fujiki! It was like you were a totally new person!"

_ Probably was,  _ Yuusaku thinks grimly. He doesn't say anything else to the duelist though, and instead brushes past her and heads to the school doors. Inside, he slips off his outdoor shoes and changes into his indoor ones. He catches a couple more curious stares from his classmates, and he wonders just what he did to surprise them.

Fortunately, Naoki supplies that information for him: "Someone tried to steal your lunch and you went 'Bang! Bang!' at their head." Naoki even models a pose for him: holding out his hand, fingers curled and pointed so that it makes a gun shape.

Though Yuusaku would never admit it, he wishes he could put himself under a rock and hide away forever. Now he knows exactly how Aoi feels and it's humiliating. He wishes everyone would stop staring at him, and that Naoki would stop narrating yesterday as if it was a good thing that he was acting so strangely. Yuusaku can only imagine how embarrassingly he acted at Kusanagi's shop.

As he wanders through the hallway, ignoring his classmates' curious eyes, Yuusaku thinks to himself just how all this could have happened. It's as if he was a different person yesterday ... no, as if there were a different person inside of  _ him.  _ But how in the world could that possibly happen? Did he sleepwalk through the entire day or something?

Bowing his head, Yuusaku just hopes the day won't get any worse. He can't go through the entire day with everyone staring at him like he's been exorcised.


	3. three。

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've just realised that Monday for me might not be Monday for everyone else, so for reference: i try to post on Mondays GMT-08, so if you live in eastern countries, i might be posting on Tuesdays ^^;; my apologies!

In class, Yuusaku feels every pair of eyes on him. His teacher calls his name, just like on Friday when he was late, but this time Yuusaku feels even more eyes glaring at him, and instead of striding off to his desk, Yuusaku finds himself dipping his head in a slight,  _ slight  _ apology. He doesn't even make it to his seat before one of his classmates – Yuusaku forgets their name – asks him, "So you remember you're own name today, Fu-ji-ki?"

Yuusaku rolls his eyes and begins pulling out his books. He tries not to let the words get under his skin – who cares what happened yesterday anyways? It's not like it'll be happening today.

All day in class though, Yuusaku finds himself unable to concentrate. Whatever the teacher says passes over his head moreso than usual, so by the time class breaks off for lunch Naoki has to shake him awake for Yuusaku to know it's time to eat.

"You gonna punch the lights out of the guy who steals your sandwich?" Naoki says.

Yuusaku feels his mouth begin to drop. "W-wait ... what?"

Coming around to the other side of the desk, Aoi furrows her brows. "That's not what happened to you. You just ..." She brings her hands together and points them like a gun. "You went ... 'bang! bang!' at another classmate, and he was too scared or surprised that he just let you have the sandwich. Honestly, Naoki is making a bigger deal of it than it was –"

"Am not," Naoki says with a huff. "It was the funniest thing I'd seen all week. You, Fujiki, making finger guns at someone? And you weren't even fooling around either – you were dead serious! It would have made more sense if you were cracking a joke, but you looked like you thought you could shoot the guy –"

"Enough," Aoi says, and while her voice never raises, her intonation makes it clear that she wants silence. "Anyways, you seem fine today, Fujiki, so maybe you just had a bit of a fever."

Yuusaku shrugs. "Amnesia." That, at least, sounds like a more plausible reason than demonic possession which no doubt is Naoki's idea. However, even once the words are out, Yuusaku doesn't think amnesia sounds all that plausible either. The things that his classmates are saying ... sure, they don't sound like him, but certain details lurk at the corners of his mind, as if he's dreamt them before.

Before Yuusaku can wheel himself back, Naoki leans over the desks. "Maybe you lead a double-life, Fujiki – like you're preparing for your avatar in Link Vrains."

Aoi lets out the largest gust of breath, seeming to come deep from her belly. "That's ridiculous," she says, and her words leave no room for argument. "Nobody would make up an entirely different personality for one day of school just because they were practicing out their new dueling avatar persona."

"I would," Naoki says with a sniff.

As Aoi and Naoki continue to bicker, both of them now thoroughly immersed in the topic, Yuusaku picks up his bag and packs up his belongings. He catches Aoi watching him from the corner of her eye, but she doesn't say anything. Without a word, Yuusaku heads out the classroom and down the hallway. He listens in case Naoki comes running after him, but hopefully Aoi has him wrangled in with a conversation.

Once Yuusaku has his outdoor shoes, he heads back out of the school doors, down the pathway, and back towards the city. He sees the same, menial sights that he always sees – nothing exciting, nothing new. In a way, Yuusaku wishes he could have met the person who was in his body yesterday because perhaps they actually enjoyed their time in the city. While Yuusaku enjoys living with Kusanagi, he'd much rather live in some virtual reality like Link Vrains. There, he could be anonymous and not have to worry about talking to strangers or going to classes or engaging in tiring social activities.

Den City ... sucks. There are too many people that it feels crowded, but too few people so everyone seems to know each other. There are no worthwhile shops to visit, and few places that Yuusaku can head to when he wants to be alone. Everyone's high and lofty goals are to move out of Den City and live elsewhere, yet for some reason Yuusaku can count on his hands the number of people he's seen actually make the move to a big city.

In short, Yuusaku has next to no life if he continues living here. He could suck himself up in Link Vrains, but then he'd still have to take care of his human body. He'd still have to leave and find food and sleep, and it all sounds so pointless. He'd much rather download his consciousness into a computer system and live as a virtual duelist.

With another deep sigh, Yuusaku heads back towards Kusanagi's hotdog truck, parked right along the waterside. Yuusaku feels a small smile tug at his lips when he sees the great, blue ocean, and before he heads inside he takes one more look. If Yuusaku looks all the way out across the water, to where the sky and the sea meet, he wonders if there's someone standing on the other side looking back at him, wishing they could be in his shoes.

_ They wouldn't,  _ Yuusaku thinks to himself, and he steps inside the truck and closes the door.

Kusanagi is busy cooking hotdogs at this hour.

"Roasting weenies and toasting buns!" AI says with a sly grin. He sits perched on the corner of the counter, out of sight from customers but clearly in the way of Kusanagi. Yuusaku plucks him from his perch and carries him to his bed, where he flops down tiredly on the sheets and buries his face into his pillow.

"Rough day?" AI says. "Hey, did everyone tell you about how strangely you were acting yesterday because you were absolutely  _ nuts,  _ Mr. Playmaker –"

"Shut up," Yuusaku mumbles into his pillow.

From the kitchen, Kusanagi echoes, "AI, shut it."

"Fine, fine," AI says. Yuusaku hears him fall silent for a moment, and then he shuffles across the bed and begins ruffling through Yuusaku's messenger bag. Groaning, Yuusaku turns his head. There isn't much in his bag besides his notebooks and pencil case – nothing that should interest AI unless he wants to colour on top of Yuusaku's notes. Out of the corner of his eye, Yuusaku sees AI pluck a notebook from the bag and begin rifling through it.

Then a pause.

Then: "Oh Mr. Playmaker –"

Yuusaku moans something into his pillow.

"Someone wrote you a letter, maybe even a love letter."

Traitorously, Yuusaku lifts his head and peers at his notebook. AI is right, in part: it's not his writing in his notebook, far too neat and tidy. It is made with one of his pens though, and it's in his notebook ...

_ Did I lend my notebook to someone?  _ Yuusaku thinks.  _ Maybe ... yesterday? _

On the notebook though is just one note – one sentence, in fact – that reads "Who are you?"

AI twists the notebook from side to side, reading the printing right-side up, then upside-down, and finally side to side. His eyes shrink and enlarge, and at last he drops it to his feet and mutters, "You ain't that popular at school, are you, Mr. Playmaker?"

"Who cares?" Yuusaku pulls the notebook towards him and peers at the writing. It definitely can't be his, and it couldn't have happened today. 

Yuusaku tosses it onto the ground and rolls to his side. When he closes his eyes, he can hear the sizzle of the hot dogs on the grill, and the slight pop of the buns toasting. When Kusanagi cooks, he taps his feet in a two-one rhythm that has always soothed Yuusaku. If he strains his ears, he can even hear the sound of the waves crashing against the walls of the ocean boulevard.

He listens to the waves for so long that he doesn't even realise he's fallen asleep until Kusanagi calls him, doesn't shake him awake: "Yuusaku. Yuusaku."

Yuusaku awakens with a start, his heart leaping to his chest even though he knows that he's in no danger, that nothing has gone wrong, that he is safe and sound in the van. His eyes shift from side to side, looking for any danger. However, it's just Kusanagi standing by the foot of the bed, AI resting on his shoulder.

"Good, you woke up," Kusanagi says. "Come on outside and have some dinner with me."

Yuusaku jerks his head forward with a nod. Though he stomach sloshes from being awoken, Yuusaku shuffles to the foot of the bed and follows Kusanagi out of the little van. When Yuusaku steps outside, he realises why. While it's not quite as impressive as Stardust Road, at night the sea steals the stars from the sky and paints them across the water. It's less of a path and more of a sea of light, yet all the same it takes Yuusaku's breath away.

"Come on, take a seat and eat," Kusanagi says, ushering Yuusaku towards one of the steel tables and chairs set up outside of the hotdog truck. On a paper plate is a single hot dog and bun, nothing else on it, and a cup of juice. Yuusaku takes his seat and begins eating, chewing halfheartedly at the food. Kusanagi takes the opposite seat; he plops AI off his shoulder and down onto the table between them, clicking his tongue when AI dangles from his finger and kicks his toes.

For a moment, there's silence between the two of them. Yuusaku chews and swallows his food, and Kusanagi sips from a coffee cup nestled between his weathered hands. Ahead of them glows the milky, starry sea, bordered by a dark fence separating the cement from the water. At this hour, Yuusaku can't see to the other side of the ocean, but he still finds himself gazing across the water to see if someone is looking back at him.

"You worried about Link Vrains?"

Yuusaku peers over the end of his food, eyes narrowed.

It's AI who speaks though. "Whoa –  _ what?  _ You mean Mr. Playmaker here? Ain't he like the biggest silent fan for that new tech?"

Kusanagi shrugs his shoulders, his eyes never leaving Yuusaku's.

Yuusaku sinks lower into his chair. "I ... don't remember yesterday. At all."

"What's  _ that  _ got to do with Link Vrains?" AI interrupts.

Kusanagi ignores him. "Well, I can tell you that you were so out of it that you didn't remember who you were ... but maybe something else is eating at you, something I didn't realise. Are things all right with school?"

"Fine," Yuusaku grounds out. He shoves the last of the bun into his mouth and turns his head towards the ocean, so that if Kusanagi can see anything, it's the edge of his sharp cheek. Yuusaku has spent all day listening to people ask him what's wrong and tell him what he  _ did  _ wrong, and honestly all he wishes he could do now is load his memory into Link Vrains and duel until his heart stops.

"My bad," Kusanagi says after a moment. "You've probably been asked that enough today."

"It's fine."

Kusanagi sighs, loud enough so that Yuusaku can hear too. Then, much more softly, he says, "You know, that ocean out there looks a hell of a lot like Stardust Road in Link Vrains. You think Zaizen got the inspiration from this spot?"

"... probably," Yuusaku says.

With a little bubble of joy in his voice, Kusanagi then asks, "Bet you wish we could just cross that ocean and hop right into Link Vrains, don't you?"

Yuusaku dips his head forward in a nod. If he were in Link Vrains, no one would know who he truly was. No one would ask who he is or tell him how he should be. No one would ask about any of those silly things, and he'd just duel whoever he'd want to.

Somewhere across Stardust Road, there must be someone else thinking the same thing. And if Yuusaku truly could, he'd walk along Stardust Road, maybe even take the hand of whatever brave saviour could do it in the first place; he'd go wherever the road leads to. Even if he hates suspense and the unknown, anything would be better than staying here.

"You actually thinking that?" Kusanagi says, chuckling into the palm of his hand. "Well, if anyone's a dreamer, Yuusaku, it would be you. You'll be the first one in Link Vrains, walking along the real Stardust Road. I just know it."

Deep in Yuusaku's traitorous, fluttering heart, he knows so too.

* * *

When Yuusaku wakes up the next morning, he feels ... different. The sunlight is a lot brighter on his eyes, as if he's sleeping in a room with far too many big, open windows. There's a strange sound coming from the windows too, as though the ocean has risen over the truck and a tsunami has struck Den City ... No, if it were a tsunami it would be much louder. This sounds like the gentle roll of waves splashing against the walls – similar to the waves along the boardwalk, but still too close for comfort.

Yuusaku awakens with a start when he hears the alarm go off – not his usual alarm though, but the tune of a vaguely familiar song. It still startles Yuusaku, and he bolts upright. Unfortunately, this bed doesn't have pillows to keep him on the mattress, so Yuusaku tumbles to the side and crashes face-first onto the ground. He winces from the pain in his cheek, sliding the rest of the way off the bed so that he can gingerly hold his face and look around wherever he's ended up ...

Which is not his room. Or Kusanagi's truck. Or perhaps anywhere in Den City, if Yuusaku is to be honest. The room he's in is the size of his classroom, with a glass wall through which Yuusaku can see the ocean, not separated by a boardwalk or anything, but just right outside of the house. The sky looks different too, the clouds puffier, and in the distance Yuusaku sees a pixelated roadway.

Wait.

Pixelated?

Yuusaku's eyes flash to the hand on his face, only ... it's not his hand. It can't be. It's larger, and softer, and the nails aren't cracked and bitten from anxiety. And his face feels smoother and more filled out. His hair too – Yuusaku tugs at his white locks, dashed green around his bangs. The more Yuusaku sees of himself, the more unfamiliar it becomes. This ... this isn't his body at all.

Stomach rising into his throat, Yuusaku stumbles to his feet. His legs get caught up in the sheets before he can make it all the way up and he falls again, this time landing so that he can see his reflection in the glass. Staring back at him is a wholly unfamiliar, albeit good-looking, face. It's not his face, or any of his classmates' for that matter. He's woken up as an entirely different person. 

Yuusaku brings a hand to his cheek, pinching his skin. It doesn't wake him up, and he winces at the tingles of pain. No ... no, he's awake. 

Sliding the hand up to his forehead, Yuusaku checks for a fever. Maybe this is how he woke up on Monday, the day he doesn't remember. Did he hallucinate an entire day and then forget about it, and that's why his classmates told him he was acting so strangely? Yet Yuusaku finds no fever or signs of hallucination. In fact, despite the mounting paranoia that he doesn't know where he is, Yuusaku actually feels a touch better. If he's a different person, then perhaps he's no longer in Den City with his boring classmates and meaningless life.

A different person …

Something bubbles in his chest – a feeling he can't put a name to, but that gets him on his feet without falling flat on his face once more. Yuusaku glances from side to side at the unfamiliar house he's found himself in, and while he once might have been scared, a feeling of safety settles deep in his soul.

_ I'm safe, and ... more importantly, I'm somewhere better than where I once was. _

After all, out the window Yuusaku can see this sea has swallowed the stars too.


	4. four。

_ When I woke up, I was someone else. _

Yuusaku fists his hands in his hair. It's far too soft, no gel needed to keep the strands in place. He drags his hands down his face, his neck, his chest; every part of him feels like a new person because, when he looks in the mirror, he's someone else entirely. Even though anxiety and confusion stirs in his mind, a spark of joy rests in his heart. If he's a new person, that means that he doesn't have to put up with his prosaic, meaningless life in Den City – or so he hopes. 

Slowly, Yuusaku glances from side to side. There appears to be no one else in this house. His room seems to take up the entire house, or so Yuusaku thinks until he steps out of the doorway into a large kitchen. There are still floor-to-ceiling windows along one of the walls, through which Yuusaku can see the tumbling waves. On his other side is the kitchen – long counters with bar stools and several cupboards stocked with plates, bowls, and cups. The drawers hold pots and pans and silverware. There's even a fully stocked fridge.

"... huh," Yuusaku mumbles. Not only has he woken up in someone else's body – he's woken up in someone's  _ nice  _ life. Sure, Kusanagi's van brings feelings of warmth and security to Yuusaku, but this house feels like ... more. Like Yuusaku's been looking for a place like this for a while.

A loud alarm blares Yuusaku out of his thoughts. He hears it coming from the bedroom, and he hurries back to find ... a duel disk? It looks far too big, but on the holographic screen a messages reads 'Call Incoming.' Yuusaku doesn't answer it though – who is even calling? Should he be answering a stranger's cell phone, even though that stranger might be him?

As soon as the call ends, the phone rings again.

Again, Yuusaku doesn't answer it. He crouches down by the duel disk and taps his fingers along the plastic casing. He's seen this design before, perhaps in a futuristic magazine of sorts. Yuusaku's own duel disk is an old model that he's treasured ever since he found it. This one though ... it sticks out for some reason.

It keeps ringing though, and Yuusaku feels his blood rise. Should he answer the phone? Perhaps, if he answers it, he'll get some more information about whose body he's woken up in and where he's at.

With a thick swallow, Yuusaku clicks 'Answer' on the duel disk. A holographic screen appears, displaying not just the person's name but also their face. Yuusaku jumps back in surprise – who is  _ that?  _ He ... he looks a bit like whoever's body Yuusaku is in, but with pure-white hair, silver at the tips, and a long, narrow face. When he smiles, Yuusaku feels his body tingle.

"You finally answered. You been asleep this entire time?"

Yuusaku just stares. Who ... is this? Is whoever's body he's in supposed to know this guy? Or is this a prank call? Yuusaku begins to feel the thoughts spin in his head. If it were him, Yuusaku, who answered the phone, well ... he probably wouldn't have answered in the first place. But then whoever he's supposed to be – would he have answered the phone? And what would he say to this guy?

"Hey."

Yuusaku looks back at the guy. There's a name at the bottom of the call too ...

"Spectre."

Spectre purses his lips. "You still asleep, Ryouken?"

Ryou ... Ryouken? Yuusaku sucks in a breath. He doesn't know who Ryouken could be, but if that's his name then that should help solve some of the mysteries if people are randomly asking for his name. How embarrassing would it be to not even know your first name?

On the display screen, Spectre's frown deepens. "What's with you this morning? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Yuusaku feels like he's seen many, many ghosts today, and not all of them have been the surprises he wishes. Whoever this Spectre is, Yuusaku hopes he doesn't have to worry too much about them. He'd hoped Ryouken didn't have any friends to bother Yuusaku with. 

Sighing, Yuusaku rubs the bridge of his nose. If he asks Spectre what is going on, perhaps Yuusaku will know how he's supposed to spend his day. Then again, the last thing Yuusaku wants to do is try and lead someone else's life, much less someone who is social and has friends.

Yuusaku's ears prick when Spectre snorts.

"You coming to school today? You look like shit."

"... thanks," Yuusaku says. This time, he hears his voice a bit more clearly, and it surprises him. He sounds older and more mature, as if he's grown into his voice instead of let it crack and flop through puberty. However, judging by the attire Yuusaku can see Spectre wearing – a crisp, white suit lined with blue, and with a school crest on the breast pocket – he's not out of school quite yet. Ryouken must be in high school then.

Great. Yuusaku has to go to school.

"Well," Spectre says, drawling out the words, "come or don't come, but I need to leave. See ya."

The call ends before Yuusaku can even begin to figure out where he's supposed to go. Now that the call has dropped, Yuusaku realises that he could have covertly asked Spectre for the location of the high school, or what he's supposed to do today. As pointless as chitchat is, Yuusaku likes to feel informed. Today, he feels like he's been pulled out of ice cold water.

Quickly, Yuusaku heads back into the bedroom and begins rifling through Ryouken's dresser drawers. He finds classy blazers and slacks made of rich, warm fabrics, but he doesn't spot the school uniform until he looks in the closet. Ryouken has far too many clothes, Yuusaku thinks. Luckily, the uniform fits him – wait, of course it would, he's Ryouken and it's meant to fit him – and Yuusaku heads to the front door to slip on his shoes. He spots a backpack lying by the coat rack, and he slips it over his shoulders.

This should be everything he needs for the day ... right?

Groaning, Yuusaku buries his face in his hands. He should have asked that Spectre guy something instead of playing shy on the duel disk.

When Yuusaku steps out the front doors though, he feels a bit of his anxiety ebb away. The door faces a private courtyard on a cliff, and from the doorway Yuusaku can cast his gaze far out into the sea. Turning his head just a bit to the right, he sees towering buildings through which a pixelated road curves between. The sky is pink and blue like cotton candy, with some of the buildings even cutting through the sky itself.

The sight takes his breath away. It's as if he's woken up from a long-lost dream. Wherever he looks, the world seems ... better. The boulevard Yuusaku walks down follows the crest of the ocean, and there's no one in sight until he heads closer to town. As he walks, Yuusaku searches for someone with the same school uniform as him. With any luck, he'll be able to trail them. It seems like a longshot idea, but then in the crowd he sees someone with the same white-and-blue blazer, and he chases after them.

The further into town Yuusaku gets, the happier his heart feels. There are infinite paths to take, all of them leading to shops and restaurants. Up above, people fly by on surfboard-like vehicles. Since no one seems to know him, or bother to wave at him, Yuusaku holds his head up a bit higher and wanders several feet behind the student in his school. Were Yuusaku in Den City, he'd have already run into a familiar face and been bombarded with boring chatter such as  _ how are you? _ and  _ how's your day going? _ Here though, no one seems to care.

The joyous feeling in Yuusaku's heart flickers away when the student he was tailing stops at a cafe. Yuusaku glances from their uniform to his – it's the same one, so how come they didn't lead him to the school? Anxiety rises in his chest. What – what is he supposed to do now? Keep wandering around? Ask someone? How embarrassing would it be to ask someone,  _ Hi, sorry, I know I'm wearing my school uniform and all, but I actually don't know where my school is. Care to give me some directions? _

Glancing around, Yuusaku searches for another white uniform. There must be someone else who knows the way. When Yuusaku sticks his hands in his pockets, he realises he's left the cell phone – or the strange duel disk that functioned as a cell phone – at home. Great. Now he can't even google the school to get directions.

Sighing, Yuusaku hangs his head.

Someone catches him around the shoulders. "What're you moping for at this hour?"

Yuusaku lifts his head, gasping. It's – it's the guy, the one that called him this morning, who's maybe Ryouken's friend – "Spectre."

"The one and only," Spectre says with a wink. He pushes Yuusaku back and folds his arms over his chest, a devious smirk across his angular face. "Never thought I'd see the day that dear Revolver shows his face in this world at, what time is it,  _ noon?  _ You're never late – what's up?"

Yuusaku shrugs his shoulders, brushing away the feeling of Spectre's hands on his body. He glances warily from side to side in case any other friends make their appearance, but he settles a bit when he realises it's just Spectre. Yuusaku can handle just one guy.

"I ... don't know."

Spectre clicks his tongue. "You really are out of it today, mumbling your words and everything. Aren't you going to  _ bang! bang!  _ me with your finger guns or tell me off?" Chuckling, Spectre runs his hands through his hair. "C'mon, I bet you're just hungry and uncaffeinated. Let's grab something to eat."

With a jerky nod, Yuusaku follows Spectre down the road. He trails behind for a few steps, until Spectre's wary glance sends of warning bells in Yuusaku's head, and he hurries forward so that they walk in line. Spectre is just as tall as him, though Yuusaku still feels himself looking up to him as if he were a child. Whoever this friend is, it appears he's quite familiar with Ryouken. Groaning internally, Yuusaku realises he'll have to pretend to be Spectre's friend too.

Fortunately, Spectre becomes far less chatty when they head into the city. He takes him down several side-streets and to a quaint little cafe in the park. Yuusaku feels the hair of the back of his neck prickle – on several occasions Naoki has encouraged him to eat at public venues, but Yuusaku prefers sitting by himself, away from everyone else, and in silence.

Yuusaku and Spectre head inside the cafe, where the air conditioning blasts them with a cool breeze. On the outside, the cafe looked to be rather boring and simple. Inside though, it looks much more exotic. There are shelves of strangely-colored and -named food packaged away in little cardboard boxes. Eagerly, Spectre brings him to a refrigerated display case where there are selections upon selections of salads, wraps, and bentos to pick from.

This would seem familiar to Yuusaku, only he doesn't know what any of the ingredients  _ are.  _ Everything looks like it came from a foreign planet – it's either the wrong colour or the wrong shape. Yuusaku glances over at Spectre whose mouth dangles open in anticipation. Is this the kind of food Ryouken eats? This weird health shit?

Swallowing thickly, Yuusaku picks the most normal box he can find. He sees rice, and hot dogs, and little cubes of fruit and vegetables. Surely that can't be too strange of a meal.

When he glances over at Spectre, Yuusaku feels his stomach sink.

"You ... want that?"

Yuusaku nods his head, and mumbles out, "Stomach ... hurts." It seems like a decent lie.

While Spectre's face doesn't soften, his words do come out gentler: "Oh, so that's probably why you were late. Well ..." He tilts his head to the side, expressing morphing into confusion. "Did you seriously forget your wallet?"

"My ..." Yuusaku pats his pockets. Where was he supposed to find a wallet in that house? Was he supposed to have it on him? Or would it be in his backpack? No, if Spectre doesn't see his wallet, that must mean Ryouken visibly carries it on him –

Spectre knocks him on the head. "You really are out of it today. Forgot your phone, your wallet, that you're supposed to go to school today. Well ..." With a wink, Spectre snaps his fingers together. "It's on me, and you owe me for next time."

"Sure ..." Yuusaku says, ducking his head down.

He passes his lunch to Spectre, who carries it to the cashier for payment. Yuusaku lingers around until Spectre returns, all the lunches packed up inside a carry-away away. They aren't eating inside, it appears. Instead, Spectre takes him out of the cafe doors and across the street to a park. Tall, Japanese maples sprout from soft, green ground. In Den City, there are parks too, but Yuusaku avoids them like the plague since so many families tend to have picnics. No doubt people have picnics here too, but Spectre leads him to a quaint clearing shaded by several trees.

"You must be seriously out of it if you ain't making Mother Tree jokes right now." Glancing over his shoulder, Spectre adds, "I could get used to this new you, Ryouken."

Yuusaku stares down at his feet.

He and Spectre take their seats underneath one of the trees, leaning back against the thick, brown bark. Yuusaku tugs his knees up to his chest, but when Spectre keeps on staring at him like he's possessed, Yuusaku crosses his legs and takes his lunch. What he's picked out tastes surprisingly normal, though whatever Spectre has chosen looks like it walked out of a biohazard lab.

They eat in silence for a moment, shaded under the tall tree. Yuusaku's eyes wander around in case anyone stumbles through the trees, but it appears that where Spectre has taken him is one of the quietest places in all of the city. The only sounds Yuusaku can hear are the crunches of their eating and the lull of the ocean waves. As far as Yuusaku is aware, there isn't a place this quiet in all of Den City.

"So ..." Spectre sets down in his food and fixes him with a harsh stare. " _ Bang! Bang!  _ What's up with you?"

Yuusaku tilts his head. Is Spectre ... finger-gunning him? He swallows the rest of the food in his mouth and sets down his own lunch. "Well ... I just feel out of it."

"You can say that again," Spectre retorts. "I've never seen you like this before. What, did you not sleep last night or something?"

Frowning, Yuusaku tries to remember what happened. He went to bed in Den City – which he can't tell Spectre without sounding silly – and then woke up ... here. Come to think of it, Yuusaku doesn't even know where he is. He can't ask Spectre outright though, so, tucking his knees up to his chest, he says, "I feel like I woke up in a different place."

"That's weird." Spectre snorts. "You feel sick or anything?"

Yuusaku shakes his head. He feels out of sorts, but that's only because this situation is wholly unfamiliar.

"Where did you think you were ...?" Spectre says after a moment.

Yuusaku bows his head. "Not sure," he lies.

"Well, if you forgot that you have school today, I bet ..." He taps his chin. "You forgot you work after school."

Yuusaku's head shoots up. "W-work?" Wait, Ryouken works? But he's a high school student! Yuusaku's heart races in his chest. He can pretend to be another student well enough, but the only place he's ever worked is Kusanagi's hot dog van, and Yuusaku doubts that's the kind of place a high-class guy like Ryouken works. Which means ...

"Yeah, your job – y'know, at the dueling arena. Geez, you even forgot that? I figured you'd at least remember the name of your favourite place."

Yuusaku's frown only deepens. Favourite place? Can someone really enjoy their job that much?

Abashedly, Yuusaku bows his head forward a bit. "Can you ... tell me how to get there then?”

"Sure, uh ..." Spectre glances down at Yuusaku's wrist, then at his own. "Damn, you don't even have you duel disk or anything. OK, lemme draw you a map. It's gonna suck, fair warning, but it's all you're getting. I'm not lending you my duel disk for that."

"Sure," Yuusaku says.

Spectre pulls out a pen and paper from his backpack and begins to draw a map, starting with a round circle. He doesn't label any of the buildings he draws, but they still look vaguely familiar to Yuusaku, as if he's seen this birds-eye-view map before. He doesn't mention it though. When Spectre finishes drawing, he hands it over to Yuusaku and jabs his finger at one star.

"That's where we are," he explains. "And here" – he jabs his finger at another star – "is where you need to go. It's within walking distance. Since you've already missed class, and in fact we're skipping class right now, I bet you by the time you find your way there you'll be late. Better hurry."

With a slight push, Yuusaku stumbles to his feet. He glances from the map to Spectre and then back to the map, and when he looks at Spectre once more, face pinched in worry, Spectre only snaps his fingers at him.

"Get moving," he says, "or you're gonna be late and whine about it tomorrow."

Unsure how to respond, Yuusaku forces himself into an awkward bow and then dashes off through the forest, back towards where he thinks the path might be. The map in his hands shows no obvious clues, but, with any luck, Yuusaku hopes that he'll still find his way there. After all, it doesn't seem like he's getting out of this dream-like world anytime soon ... and, if he were honest with himself, he doesn't want to ruin Ryouken day too much.


	5. five。

Spectre's map is, for want of a better term, pointless. Nothing is to scale, and since there are no landmarks and only half of the streets are labelled, Yuusaku finds himself getting lost just by trying to decipher the doodle. In the end, he shoves the map in his pocket and asks someone with a duel disk, "So where’s the way to the dueling arena?"

One answer, no random trivia, and no chitchat.

Yuusaku likes this world more and more by the second.

To get to the dueling arena, he travels down busy roads, wide enough so that he's not bumping shoulders with anyone, but crowded enough so that no one recognises him or bothers to talk with him. For a second, Yuusaku wonders if this Ryouken guy just doesn't have any friends ... but then he doesn't see anyone talking to each other unless they look to be dueling or out at a cafe. Wherever Yuusaku's ended up at, it appears chitchat isn't quite so common.

At the end of the path, Yuusaku veers to the side and travels down yet another road. He winds himself through the city, slipping by pedestrians. Over his head fly people riding on boards; from this far down, Yuusaku can't hear what they're shouting, but every so often he catches a bit of a cheer or a crow, and he wonders if they're playing a game up there.

_ Are they dueling?  _ he wonders.

Yuusaku finds out when he turns the last corner. The dueling arena appears to be one of the largest buildings in the city, and by far the largest complex Yuusaku has ever seen. It soars up to the sky, breaking up the cotton-candy clouds. However, the dueling track winds around the various spires of the building, and duelists descend from the duel track down to the building. Yuusaku watches them come and go with rapt interest. In Den City, until Link Vrains appears next month, the coolest thing his city has is a dueling club in his school, and that isn't anything to sneeze at.

But then, isn't this ... just like Link Vrains?

Yuusaku blinks.

It is. The city, the landscape, the duelists – it's all Link Vrains. And sure enough, plastered on the wall of the dueling arena is a sign that reads "Link Vrains Dueling Gym" and beneath it a little banner that reads "All duelists welcome!"

Yuusaku sucks in a breath. He's in Link Vrains, a virtual city that hadn't even been around in Den City yet. This must be the prototype then, or perhaps other cities have Link Vrains already and Den City is just the last city to accept it. Whatever the case may be, Yuusaku feels his heart rate quicken and his palms begin to sweat. He's here – he's really, truly here!

Fighting back a cheer, Yuusaku dashes forward into the building, pushing open the large, glass door. He steps into a stadium with a tall roof, not the office building that it looked like outside. The plush carpet under his feet sinks with each step he takes. He's entered into a lobby, and ahead of him are several desks for registration and checking in. To either side Yuusaku sees hallways veering far back into the depths of the building, and –

The ocean.

Ahead of him, past the desks, is a beautiful view of the ocean. This must be a sea that wraps all the way around Link Vrains, but it looks truly beautiful. The waves crest with white foam and tumble back into the water. As far as he can see, Yuusaku sees blue.

"Hey!"

Yuusaku jumps at the voice, whirring around. A girl stands off by the desks, hands on her hips. She doesn't look familiar, though she seems to know Ryouken. Her short, red hair bunches up around her high cheekbones and pointed ears, and her bangs sweep over a pair of periwinkle-blue eyes. She's dressed in what looks like a server's uniform: black slacks and a white dress shirt, and with a red apron tied around her waist.

"Hey," she says again. "Ryouken, you in there?"

"... yeah," Yuusaku says. He stands, shuffling his feet. What is he supposed to do here? He squints ahead to see her name pinned to her uniform: Kyoko/Vyra.

"Kyoko ... Vyra."

The girl raises an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, just ..."

She crosses her arms over her chest, tapping one heeled foot on the floor; though it's carpet, it still makes a soft  _ fwap!  _ sound.

"You feeling all right? Not sick or anything, are you?"

Yuusaku shakes his head. "Just out of sorts."

"Good." She sinks her teeth into her lips though, an her expression remains stern. "You don't really look ready to work though? Where's your uniform?"

Yuusaku swallows. That was probably in the closet too, and he forgot it because he was so focused looking for his school uniform. "Sorry, Kyo ..."

From behind him, someone says, "Hey, that's  _ Miss Vyra _ to you. Don't get cocky just because of your dueling record."

_ My ...? My dueling record?  _ Yuusaku stumbles around. It's another co-worker, this one a guy with olive skin and blue hair jutting out like wings at the tops of his ears. He's old enough to have facial hair too, and Yuusaku brings a hand to his own, smooth chin.

"That's right," the guy says. "Respect, Revolver."

"Re ..." Yuusaku pauses. He's heard that name before – didn't Spectre say that earlier among all his teasing? Would that be his alternate name, just as his fellow co-workers nametags say both "Kyoko/Vyra" and "Aso/Faust." Then ... then is he Ryouken/Revolver?

"Well ..." Vyra taps her foot once more. "If you don't have your uniform, all you have to do is say so. Stop standing around all doe-eyed and come with me. There's a spare one in the office."

Mutely, Yuusaku nods. He slips by Faust, avoiding the glare he receives, and trails after Vyra down several long, narrow hallways. There are windows through which he can see the sky and the sea, and when he angles his head he spots the dueling track those boards were skating on. The more Yuusaku stares, the more it truly looks like he's wound up in some beta-version of Link Vrains.

"Hey ..."

Vyra whirls around. "Are you sure you should be at work today?"

"Yeah, um ..." Yuusaku scratches the back of his head, and stops when Vyra's eyebrows raise far up into her hairline. Yuusaku feels his cheeks darken. Who is this Ryouken guy and why is it that everything Yuusaku does makes everyone confused? Is he really that different from Ryouken?

"Well ..." Vyra turns the knob to one of the doors and steps inside. Yuusaku peers his head through the doorway, wondering if he should follow her, when she comes back holding a folded-up pair of black pants, a white shirt, and a red apron. "Try these on, adjust the elastic in the pants if it's too loose." A pause. "And hurry – you're supposed to be on the floor."

Yuusaku nods his head.

Vyra pushes the clothing into his hands. Then, winking, she adds, "This new Revolver is like an obedient mutt – I could get used to him."

And without another word she saunters back down the hallway, hips swinging. Yuusaku watches her go, cheeks pink. Though he doesn't know how to say it, it feels like he's messing up Ryouken's day very, very much.

He hurries into the room to change, pulling on the pants first, then the shirt. He tries to remember how Vyra and Faust looked, and then Yuusaku tucks in the pants for good measure too. He wraps the apron around his waist, fastening it behind his back. When he checks himself out with the mirror in the office, he looks surprisingly cleaned-up. He still feels awkward in this new body, but Yuusaku holds his head up high when he walks back down the hallway –

And promptly stumbles when he realises he's not sure what he's supposed to be doing. He should have asked Vyra when she was here.

Moaning, Yuusaku heads down the hallway. This asking people for help thing sure has gotten old quickly.

At least though ... at least this place seems better than Den City. Until someone comes looking for him and asking why he's not working, Yuusaku is alone and undisturbed in a virtual city based on dueling. It sounds too good to be true – how did this Ryouken get this sort of deal?

Yuusaku wanders down any of the hallways he spots, looking for clues that might tell him where he needs to go. He sees dozens of doors, many of them closed. When he heads back out to the lobby and down another hallway, he finds duelists young and old gathered around variou television screens: dueling boards, he realises, displaying the recent scores of duel matches around Link Vrains. Yuusaku remembers hearing about this from one of the brochures Sol Technologies published.

_ I wonder if Zaizen Akira is here. _

Just as Yuusaku begins to wander down the next hallway, he hears Vyra shout, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Yuusaku whirls around, unable to stop the small smile on his face. Finally, someone who can help him!

Vyra glares at him, blue eyes small, crystal-like slits. "Seriously, it's like you've never worked a day in your life – and you're not even arguing back with me. Come on, I'll show you where you need to go."

Yuusaku follows her without another word. This time Vyra takes him further down the same hallway, past where duelists have gathered to see scores or arrange matches, and out to a large, open-air stadium. Various pixelated paths descend down into the main courtyard, while others twist and twirl through the sky. There are duelists both on the ground and in the air too, and Yuusaku's eyes can't keep track of all the movement.

Surrounding the dueling field is another courtyard, this one filled with tables and chairs. And to the side of all that is a door which Vyra leads him through that heads back into the building.

_ Not ... outside?  _ Yuusaku thinks. But isn't he a duelist?

Instead, Vyra brings him to a small, computer-like room filled with screen – hundreds of computer monitors all displaying different kinds of data. It looks like a fancier, more expensive version of Kusanagi's van. Yuusaku can read the code on the screen, and though it's a lot to take in all at once, the more he stares the more he begins to discern what is dueling statistics, what is computer hardware, and what is trivial information someone's left on their open internet browsers.

_ "This  _ is where you're supposed to be," Vyra says. She points to an empty chair before the computers. "Sit."

Yuusaku complies. He glances back up at her though.

"And now you code. Make sure dueling is going according to plan and catch bugs before they happen. Make sure no one tries to override the system and cheat. Y'know, make it stable and safe."

Yuusaku nods his head. With all this technology, it makes sense that Link Vrains has such a focus on security. However, Yuusaku thought that Sol Tech was in charge of Link Vrains. Does this mean that Ryouken works for Sol Tech? He's never heard of the name before, though then again the only person who gets press release is Zaizen Akira. Not even his right-hand man Kitamura gets any attention.

When Yuusaku turns around though, Vyra is gone. He's not the only one in this room, thankfully, but Yuusaku recognises no one here, and fortunately no one seems to recognise him either. Apparently Ryouken isn't as familiar with these workers as he is with Vyra.

Turning back to his seat, Yuusaku begins to code. Since he's lived with Kusanagi, he's picked up two skills: hotdog cooking and coding, and he's sufficient at both of them. With practiced hands, Yuusaku types away, occasionally pulling up internet browsers to check particular lines of code. At other times, he switches camera angles so he can examine what is going on on the dueling fields. Though Yuusaku isn't entirely sure what he's meant to be doing, he feels like this is what Vyra wants.

As he swaps cameras though, zeroing in on the lobby, Yuusaku sees what looks like trouble. It's easy to see the glowers on the faces of the two men at the reception, and it's even easier to spot the look of panic on Vyra's face. She's clearly caught in a struggle of some sorts. However, he can't do anything but watch her. He can't hear what she's saying, or what the men are saying back to her, but Yuusaku can fathom a guess at the hurtful things they might be saying.

Clenching his fists, Yuusaku forces himself to sit. He can't charge in and help her. Besides, is that what Ryouken is supposed to do? Is that the sort of thing Ryouken would do in this situation, or would he trust Vyra to handle matters herself? Yuusaku doesn't see Faust anywhere – would that guy come and help her?

The situation goes on though, Vyra continuously bowing to the men, handing over forms –

Behind him, a co-worker comments, "Look's like Vyra's tangled up in trouble again. I swear, it's like all the dicks in the world flock to her for special treatment."

Yuusaku growls low in this throat. He can't help her as he wouldn't even know the customer service policies here, but he feels helpless just sitting around watching.

As if the co-worker can sense Yuusaku's unease, he flicks the camera back to a view of the dueling field with two duelists going head-to-head, their life points in the red zone. "There," the guy says, "watch this instead. Trust me, Vyra's got it covered. She'll come back and vent."

Yuusaku feels his heart burn in his chest. Can ... can he really just sit around? His eyes flick back to the screen.

Growling, Yuusaku stands to his feet and storms out. He hears someone call out, "Hey, wait up!" but Yuusaku keeps walking, slamming the office door behind him. To his surprise, he remembers the way back to the lobby quite well; no longer do the hallways all blend together. However, with his attention concerned on getting to Vyra asap, Yuusaku nearly stumbles into Vyra herself.

"Hey, what are you –"

"Are you all right?" Yuusaku blurts out. "I saw –"

"You saw?" Vyra says, raising an eyebrow. "What were you – oh. Right." She leans back, crossing her arms over her chest. Her expression sinks down, as if she's bowing her head towards him, and Yuusaku feels himself grow self-conscious at her meekness. "It's fine, actually. Don't worry about it."

_ Don't ...? _ Yuusaku feels his blood boil, and his head snaps up. "What –"

"It's fine," Vyra says. "Besides, what could you have honestly done? The guys are already gone." With a shrug, she brushes aside. Yuusaku follows her, and his eyes catch on a rip straight from her hip down to thigh. Yuusaku's eyes widen.

"Vyra ... you have ..."

She glances around.

Cheeks red, Yuusaku motions to his own leg. Vyra tilts her head to the side, confused, but she brings her own hand down to the back of her leg and presses her fingers against the slit. Eyes widening, she quickly spins around to hide the mark, cheeks flushing a vibrant pink. "Oh, sorry, I don't know how that –"

"W-want me to sew it?" Yuusaku blurts out. "I stitched up these pants already, so – so I can do yours too."

It feels like the right thing to say, but Vyra doesn't respond for several moments, her hands still tucked behind her and over the split. She doesn't meet his eyes when she does respond, but Yuusaku hears it clearly, a faint, "Sure," and then a, "Come on, this way."

This time, they walk side by side, Vyra's hands still behind her back. She leads him back to the lobby and then down the opposite wing, this one seemingly blocked off for employees only. She takes him back to the office room. She hesitates closing the door though, perhaps anxious about having to get out of her skirt in front of him.

Yuusaku turns away with a shrug.

_ I wonder what kind of relationship you had with her, Ryouken?  _ he thinks.  _ Would this girl willingly accept help from you too? _

After a moment, Vyra calls out, "I'm good," and Yuusaku turns back around. Vyra holds the ripped skirt out to him; around her waist and legs is a towel. Yuusaku takes the skirt and thumbs the rip. It's not wide as it is long, perhaps made from a small knife of sorts. It's not anything difficult to sew up though; Yuusaku has hemmed and patched his clothes before.

Reaching past Vyra, Yuusaku grabs the sewing kit and threads the needle. He leans against the wall as he sews, creating a nice, even stitch.

"I ... didn't know you could sew," Vyra says after a moment.

Yuusaku shrugs. "I hemmed my pants not so long ago – don't you remember?"

"Well yeah." She hugs herself, glancing down at her toes. "But I've never seen you do it any times before."

Yuusaku swallows thickly. Can Ryouken not sew? Should he have not helped Vyra?

"Never had a chance, I guess."

Vyra hums under her breath. Out of the corner of his eye, Yuusaku sees her smile though, and it reminds him a bit of when Aoi smiles – no teeth, just a quirk of the lips. It makes Yuusaku smile though.

"You're a good kid, y'know."

Yuusaku's eyes widen. "Hu –"

"I mean, you've got a good head on your shoulders. I know you're in school too, and you're working here as well. I bet it gets pretty hard for you."

Unsure what to say, Yuusaku nods. He doesn't know much about Ryouken besides the single day he's lived through, though he can only imagine the stress of living. Besides, Yuusaku hasn't seen anyone else at Ryouken's house – where are his parents? Or roommates? Or does he live alone? Are people like Vyra and Spectre the closest thing Ryouken has to family?

"... thanks," Yuusaku says when Vyra keeps staring at him.

"I thought you were acting a bit weird today," Vyra continues, "but y'know, I kinda like this you. You're quieter, more soft-spoken – I thought you were just sick or something, but maybe you're just becoming a new person."

_ Is this not what Ryouken's like at all? What's he normally like? _

With a chuckle, Vyra gives him a gentle push on the shoulders with her foot. "Now c'mon, back to work. We can't lollygag."

Yuusaku leans away from her, avoiding the next foot she swings his way. He hurries to his feet and, with a short bow, heads back to work. Out the doorway, he hears her call out to him, "You remember the way, kiddo?" and Yuusaku nearly calls back a "Yes, ma'am!" He holds his tongue though, a blush rising to his cheeks. Who ... who even is this woman, and why doe she feel better around her than he does around his own friends? Come to think of it, Yuusaku's felt better about everything about today.

_ It really does feel like a dream,  _ he thinks.

For the rest of the day, Yuusaku feels like he's floating through a dream – not a perfect one, for there are moments where he wishes Ryouken's coworkers would shut up, or he wishes he didn't have to be at this job. Yet when he leaves the sky is filled with stars, and the ocean has swallowed the sky too, and no matter where Yuusaku looks he sees a sight that he could fall in love with. On the walk back home, no one bothers him.

When Yuusaku gets him, he has a house all to himself. He wanders around Ryouken's flat, exploring the nooks and crannies of the flat. There is no one else is sight – no random belongings, only one set of dishes, only one bedroom. No one bothers him for most of the night, and when Yuusaku's phone does go off, it's from Spectre asking if he wants to hang out this weekend.

Yuusaku frowns. Can he make plans? Sure, this feels like a dream – but what if he makes plans and they're real? What will happen tomorrow? Will he wake up as himself, or will he wake up as Ryouken again?

In the corner of the duel disk screen, Yuusaku sees several icons – notifications, reminders, e-mails, and ... a diary? Perhaps it's a day planner of sorts, but inside it Yuusaku finds small, annotated lists of daily activities, such as "Went to work and talked to Vyra" or "Dueled Spectre and won." Most of them seem trivial and pointless, but the more Yuusaku scrolls, the more he sees little reminders of Ryouken's past days.

_ A diary, huh ...? Well, what have I done today then ... _

Inside the diary, Yuusaku types out:  _ went out for lunch with Spectre and went to work with Vyra. Sewed up Vyra's pants ... score. _

Good.

Yuusaku drops the duel disk back down on the bed, and then flops to the side, gazing up at the ceiling. There's even a window in the ceiling, revealing the beautiful, starry sky. No matter where Yuusaku looks, the galaxies are always gazing back at him. It feels like the stars have wrapped this world up in a tight blanket.

"Who are you?" Yuusaku murmurs.

No one replies back, but a thought crosses his mind ...

He's heard those words before – no, seen them, in his school binder.

Yuusaku's heart thumps in his throat. Back then, was that Ryouken? Did Ryouken spend a day in his body? Was that why all those strange things happened that Yuusaku never remembers? It would make sense; no doubt Ryouken's friends will relay to him how weird Yuusaku acted today. But then that means Yuusaku can never meet Ryouken – they're switching places.

_ I want to meet you though. _

Rolling to the side, Yuusaku snatches up a marker lying on Ryouken's desk. He holds out his hand and writes on his palm "Yuusaku." That should help Ryouken figure out who he is ... maybe. Perhaps Ryouken has met him before, and Yuusaku has just never caught Ryouken's name.

"May ... be," Yuusaku says. He yawns into his hand, his arms toppling to his sides. Suddenly his entire body feels like a lead weight, and he can barely keeps his eyes open. He feels his vision grow fuzzy. Never before has Yuusaku fallen asleep quickly; his insomnia has always kicked in, and his PTSD has always interrupted his sleep. Yet this time, Yuusaku falls asleep faster than he ever has, and he doesn't once wake up and see the starry, milky sky above him.

* * *

He awakens with the blankets kicked out all around him, not on his body or pulled up to his chin. The light is still on too, and his duel disk is blaring right beside his ear instead of being plugged in and charging. To his side, he sees a permanent marker leaking onto the white bedsheets, and –

"Shit!"

He stumbles upright, smacking his long legs down on the ground. Though he can clearly see the time on his duel disk, he still feels like he's slept the day away, or as if his mind has been caught in a dense fog. He shakes his head and rubs his eyes, stopping when he catches the black ink on his hand.

"Wha ..." he murmurs.

There's ink on his hand – in fact, it's a name, hastily scrawled across his palm like a reminder. He squints his eyes. Did he do this last night?

"Yuusaku." He says the name aloud. "Yuusaku."

Ryouken frowns. "Who’s Yuusaku?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all thought Yuusaku was going to be dueling ... well, Ryouken duels, and Yuusaku duels, but instead of writing out a duel (which i suck at doing and i'd just write the actions/emotions of dueling instead of card plays) we get Hackerman Yuusaku and Ryouken // hacker voices: we're in.
> 
> also wanted to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your sweet comments!! the vrains fandom is so kind!! <333


	6. six。

Ryouken has never heard of someone named Yuusaku in his life. More importantly, he's never seen that handwriting before – it's not Spectre's, or anyone else's from his school. Besides, who would write that on his hand? What kind of reminder is that name meant to be? And ... his frown deepens. When did this even happen? Last night feels like a blur to him. He doesn't remember going to school, or to work, or coming home and falling asleep in this ...

Wait.

Ryouken pats down his arms and legs. He's not even in his own work uniform – this one is too big.

_ What even happened yesterday?  _ he thinks with a groan.

The more he thinks about it though, the more it makes his head hurt. Sighing, he pulls himself to his feet and off the bed. He peels off the sticky, borrowed uniform; he'll need to return that this afternoon on his shift, and perhaps get some answers as to why he didn't wear the uniform in his closet. His school uniform isn't hanging in his closet though – no, that lays draped across his desk chair.

_ I don't even know. _

Once he's ready for school, he heads to the kitchen and fixes himself breakfast, scrambling eggs and peppers, and reheating leftovers in his fridge. As his breakfast cooks, he packs his bag, which also happens to not be by the door but tossed onto the couch. While he eats his food, he scrolls through his phone. There's a text message conversation he doesn't remember having with Spectre, and several notifications for ...

His diary.

Ryouken flicks open the planner app. Most of the day he remembers filling out notes, but yesterday's sticks out like a sore thumb. For one reason, Ryouken doesn't remember writing anything yesterday; and for another, the note is written far differently than he would have. There's no explanation, no detailed description, just:  _ went out for lunch with Spectre and went to work with Vyra. Sewed up Vyra's pants ... score. _

Score?

Ryouken snorts. Who would write that?

Ryouken glances down at his hand. Was this Yuusaku? Who the heck even is that? Ryouken writes it down in the day planner though:  _ Who is Yuusaku?  _ Perhaps his co-workers or Spectre know him.

He closes the journal with a heavy sigh, but before he can pick himself up and head to school, his duel disk pings with a message notification. It's from Spectre:  _ don't forget your duel disk and wallet xxx _

_ My ... _

Ryouken snorts and texts back:  _ the fuck you talking about? _

Not a minute later, Spectre responds:  _ forgot it yesterday ;) _

This time, Ryouken doesn't reply. There's no way he'd ever forget his duel disk and wallet – what idiot would leave the house without that? Hell, Ryouken can count more times that Spectre has forgotten his wallet and had to mooch money of Ryouken, much to Ryouken's chagrin and Spectre's joy. But Ryouken can't remember ever forgetting his belongings ... that is except for the day he can't remember.

He looks back down at his hand.  _ Do you have anything to do with this, Yuusaku? _

There's no time to question it though. Ryouken grabs his duel disk and wallet and shoves them both into his backpack, and then slips on his shoes and heads out the door. He walks down the same boardway to school, bordered by the beautiful, blue sea. He keeps his eyes glued to the blue sky and bluer sea, and the border where they both meet. When he has to turn, Ryouken has to tear his vision away.

Before him lies the city. It looks no different from yesterday: people milling all about, the billboards blaring dueling information. Link Vrains has woken up even at this early hour, and over his head Ryouken sees Riding Duels on D-Boards. He recognises the duelists just by the undersides of their boards, and since he's been on the dueling tracks for so long, he can predict who will win and lose.

As he heads further into the city, he sees even more duelists, many of them hanging around cafes. Though now a fully-fledged city with its own council and privileges, Link Vrains has stilled retained its strong dueling roots. Ryouken has never met a person here whose heritage can't be traced back to a duelist, and many of the residents here have continued to participate in dueling one way or another. Without the fear of rogue duelists, dangerous AIs, or faulty software, Link Vrains has become one of the safest places for competitive and non-competitive duelists.

To Ryouken's surprise, despite not remembering anything from yesterday, it appears nothing has changed about Link Vrains. He sees the same familiar faces all heading to work or school, and at the corner of a major intersection, just before the train station, he sees Spectre standing with the clearest, shit-eating grin on his face.

Ryouken growls. He's in no mood to deal with Spectre's shit, especially with his foggy memory.

Once he's close enough, Spectre raises his hand with a "Yoo hoo, Mr. Revolver."

"What?" Ryouken says.

"What?" Spectre repeats, dragging the word out. He purses his lips and leans close, as if he has a private secret to tell. "You mean, you don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Ryouken says. He grabs Spectre by the shoulders and pulls him forward. If Ryouken is going to suffer through this conversation, he might as well get to school on time too. He and Spectre walk in line with each other, down the stairs and into the train station. The artificial lighting creates haunting shadows across Spectre's narrow, devilish face.

Spectre only smiles wider.

"What?" Revolver repeats.

"You really don't remember." Spectre taps his lips with his fingers.

Revolver growls low in his throat.

"Yesterday, it was like you were another person – a quieter, more soft-spoken ... more vulnerable person."

"The fu ... what?" Ryouken shakes his head. Then, growling one more, he presses his fingers into Spectre's skull and says, "Bang, bang. What are you even talking about?"

"That exactly," Spectre says. He stifles a laugh into his fist, eyes twinkling with glee. "You didn't even remember that – heck, you even got all confused and defensive when I did it to you. I thought you were sick or something – late to class, forgot all your precious belongings, didn't even know where you worked –"

"Wait –"

"Yeah," Spectre says, nodding emphatically. "You had no clue who you were yesterday."

Ryouken's eyes widen. Unfortunately, he sees the train gliding into the station, and so his and Spectre's conversation cuts off as they board the train and take their seats. His fingers itch to text Spectre about what happened, but that would only make him seem more confused and needy. Ryouken can't deny though that something seems off. How could he forget an entire day – and in fact, how could he forget so much of yesterday? What even happened?

For the entire train ride, his head spins with questions. He thought Spectre might have some answers to solve this mystery, but in fact Spectre's words have only created more questions for him to mull over. How ... how could this even happen?

_ Yuusaku. _

Curiously, Ryouken glances at Spectre. Would Spectre know who this Yuusaku guy is? As far as Ryouken is aware, there is no one at his school with that name. At work, he's never come across that name; and on the dueling circuit, there's no duelists named Yuusaku.

_ Can I tell him though? Won't that only raise suspicions and make me seem more bizarre? _

Ryouken's eyes roll down to his hand. He washed away the ink before he left the house, but a hazy mark still remains. Whoever Yuusaku is, he must have been trying to communicate with him.

_ Well, what did you want then, Yuusaku? _

He wishes he had the answers.

When the train rolls to a stop at his station, Ryouken follows Spectre out, ignore Spectre's taunt of, "I can't even imagine you trying to get to school yesterday."

"Did I skip?" Ryouken says.

"So did I," Spectre answers with a shrug.

That only makes Ryouken feel worse – not because he cares about his friend’s education or anything, but because that means he skipped class and he’s never missed a class in his life. He’s no diligent student, but he tries hard enough for his peers to know he wouldn’t miss a single class unless under extraordinary circumstances.

_ Shit. _

"It's  _ fine,"  _ Spectre says. "Like honestly it probably would have been worse if you came."

Ryouken raises an eyebrow. "How come?"

"Because you had no clue who you were yesterday. I can only imagine the shitstorm that went down at your work. You were a wreck."

Revolver brings his face back into his hands. He takes one slow, steady breath, and then, when he raises his head, he stomps ahead, further than Spectre and forcing him to catch up. Spectre jogs to his side, but Ryouken doesn't even break a sweat, his long legs casting sweeping shadows over the pavement.

"Hey – hey, what's up?"

"I don't want to hear about yesterday anymore –"

"Because you're embarrassed?" Spectre teases.

"Because one, that was yesterday and in the past; two, it's a brand new day; and three, you are so full of shit that I can't tell when you're lying or telling the truth."

Spectre's grin doesn't even flinch. "Touché," he says. "Again, too bad the whole school didn't see you."

Ryouken counts that as a silent blessing.

When they're off the train, it's just a climb up the stairs to the entrance of their school. Despite being a dueling city, Link Vrains still has all the basic necessities of a city: hospitals, police stations, fire stations, town halls, shopping centres, and several schools. His and Spectre's school, Sol Academy, is one of the top schools. Even from the outside, it exudes an air of superiority. Manicured fields stretch as far as the eye can see, bordered by tall fences and pristine stone pathways snaking around the campus and towards smaller buildings.

The main building stands solid at the centre of the campus. It looks like a museum or town hall combined with fancy technology: an assemblage of limestone and glass clashing together and spiraling up towards the sky. There are windows on every wall, and it makes Ryouken smile. He likes to see the world whenever he gazes around.

They head down the stone path to the entrance, where they swap their outdoor shoes for indoor shoes. The hallways and locker bays are crammed with students in white and blue suits. Attached to everyone's wrist is a duel disk, upon which many students are engaged in phone calls and text messages. Ryouken's duel disk is already on his arm; Spectre's hangs off the side of his messenger bag.

At school, Ryouken doesn't have any friends – they're all competitors. He's beaten every student in this school in a duel, even Spectre, and won every single match. He's an unconquerable duelist among high school students, and his prestigious reputation has kept him from making acquaintances with the other students ... except Spectre. To this day, Ryouken's not sure why Spectre still hangs around him.

At the moment, Spectre snickers to himself, eyeing up every student that eyes Ryouken warily.

"Remember where your classes are?"

"Of course," Ryouken snaps back.

In class, no one bothers him. Nonetheless, his mind drifts back to Yuusaku. Ryouken searches the classroom for a mysterious transfer student, but there isn't a single unfamiliar face in sight. For how chatty Spectre has been about Ryouken's memory loss, he hasn't mentioned anything about a 'Yuusaku.' Ryouken growls. What, did he write that name in his sleep?

And yet, whenever he thinks of Yuusaku, his heart moves a bit. There's no pain or feelings of unease ... in fact, it's more of a feeling of security. Ryouken wishes he felt this feeling before.

_ Were you with me yesterday, Yuusaku? I wish you could have told me more besides 'score.' _

Halfway through class, Ryouken wonders if Yuusaku will appear at his workplace. Perhaps that's a new customer. From that point on, school drags slower than an anchor through oil. Time seems to stop more than once, and he finds himself glancing at the clock far too often or staring out the window hoping the sun might cross the sky faster.

It doesn't.

But when the sun bleeds through the afternoon sky, and when he hears the shrill ring of the bell, Ryouken leaps out of his seat. He's the first one to the door, down the hallway, and then out the front entrance. Dignity lost to the wind, Ryouken runs as fast as he can down the stone path, kicking up dust and pebbles behind him. He hears his duel disk beep with a message.

_ don't forget where you work today. _

Ryouken rolls his eyes. He doesn't have time to care about Spectre.

The moment Ryouken makes it out of the school courtyard, he points his duel disk at the ground and shouts, "D-Board, materialise!" In front of him appears a cluster of pixels that spreads into the shape of an ovular board decorated with metallic, glowing lights. He leaps onto the D-Board, planting his feet on either end – then he shoots up to the sky like a rocket, vaulting into the blue skies.

To Ryouken, being on a D-Board feels right. He feels like his body was made for boarding, and power surges through his legs as he adjusts his balance. When he makes turns, he doesn't worry about losing control or cutting the corners too tightly or loosely. The board feels like an extension of his body, and even if he closes his eyes, he knows where to go.

From this height, Ryouken can see all of Link Vrains spread out like a beautiful panorama: the tall skyscrapers and the pixelated duel path. He can see little dueling centres or popular hangouts for duelists where he's challenged many an opponent. And then, in the furthest reaches of the distance, he sees the sea. At this hour, the sky has begun to swallow the sun, turning it a silky, golden colour. Soon it'll revert back to its beautiful, mystical blue and swallow the very universe.

_ Did you see this sight, Yuusaku?  _ he wonders, and even after the thought flitters through his mind, Ryouken doesn't pull it back. Somehow, it just feels right to think of Yuusaku like a mysterious, albeit miraculous, figure.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryouken sees the dueling arena. He veers downwards, plateauing just before the nose of his D-Board jams into the cement. Slowly, he drives his bike to the entrance, and then dissolves it as if it were simply made of pixels and matter. His feet land on the ground with a gentle  _ thwap!,  _ and as soon as Ryouken opens the doors, he glances around. What's different here? What did he miss yesterday? What is –

"Hey-o, Revolver!" Vyra says with a wave. She sits on the counter, kicking her feet back and forth. Her smile looks a little too big today, and far too similar to Spectre's teasing smirks; Ryouken feels his guards go up.

"Miss Vyra –"

"Oh you're got your manners back," she says.

"I ..." Ryouken shakes his head. "I'm hearing that yesterday I was a bit off."

"You could say that," she says, tapping her chin with a finger. She hops off the counter, coming to stand in front of him. "But y'know, you were pretty cute, all quiet and such. It was like I got to see a new side of you."

Ryouken swallows. Quiet? Sure, that's better than what Spectre relayed to him, but it's certainly not who he was meant to be. His teeth sink into his lip as he tries to word together the question that's been on his mind all day:  _ Did you meet Yuusaku?  _ But it sounds weird, and personal, and so Ryouken just shrugs.

"I apologise."

"It was fine. Do you have ..." She glances down at his bag. "You have the spare uniform, right?"

Ryouken nods. "Did I forget my own yesterday?"

"Yeah ... and you forgot where you were supposed to go ... and what you were supposed to do. It was like you had amnesia, but it's all right – honestly, you did a great job of hacking, and you ..." She glances down at her feet, and then touches a hand to her leg. "I didn't know you were so hands-on."

"Hands ..." Ryouken feels his mouth go dry. Is ... is this the shitshow Spectre alluded to? What the hell happened at work?

Sensing Ryouken's rising anxiety, Vyra chuckles and sets a hand on his shoulder. "Not like that – I mean, you sewed my pants for me. There was a guy and a situation, and honestly it wasn't even that scary – but then you showed up and wanted to help, and then I saw the rip in my pants and you fixed it for me. It was pretty sweet."

A thought clicks in Ryouken's mind. The journal entry – that's what it meant. But then, that means he did it ... not Yuusaku. Ryouken's head spins. If he was here yesterday, then how come he forgot the entire day? And how come he seemed to have amnesia? He couldn't have been sick or else Vyra would have sent him home.

When Ryouken glances up, Vyra winks at him and pushes at his shoulder. "Now come on, Revolver, let's get to work. Get changed and start coding – I'll come check up on you."

"Y ... yes," Ryouken says, throat dry. He hikes up his bag and hurries to the washroom the change. As he passes by the mirror, he swears he sees someone else's face in the mirror – but it's only him. He sighs.

_ Who are you, Yuusaku ... and who are you to me? _

* * *

There's just enough sunlight in his eyes to wake him up, but Yuusaku still throws himself forward, kicking the blankets off the bed with his limbs flailing. His heart races and his breath comes in deep, gasping pants. For several moments he lets himself hang forward, arms braced on either side of him, and he forces himself to breathe deeply without vomiting. Though he can't remember any terrible dreams, he's never woken up without feeling like he's been submerged in painful memories.

When at last Yuusaku lifts his head, he spots AI sitting on the dresser crammed into this room. However, AI doesn't have his trademark smirk; instead, he's frowning, one hand cupping his head.

"No good dreams, huh?"

Yuusaku doesn't answer, glaring at AI through his bangs.

"No blushing either," AI says with a shrug. He gives a gusty sigh coming from the bottom of his stomach, and then stands up, swinging his arms from side to see. "Well, ain't nothing to see here this morning."

Yuusaku watches the little Ignis wander down the side of the dresser and then leap to the ground. When AI turns around, he plants his hands on his hips, cocks his head to the side, and singsongs, "Time – to – eat!"

Then the door slams in Yuusaku's face.

Yuusaku flops back with a tired sigh. He rolls to the side of his bed, peering down at where he's shoved ... his school bag? Normally, he just leaves his duel disk here and throws his backpack on the front seat of the van, but today his schoolwork is beside his bed. Furthermore, Yuusaku can see his notebooks arranged neatly in his knapsack instead of shoved together.

"... what?"

He snatches up his notebook. Even before opening it, Yuusaku can tell something is different about his work: there are sticky notes peeking out of the pages, tabbed with labels that say "study this" or "research this." Inside, the notebook is filled with even more class notes – notes that Yuusaku knows he hasn't taken. And then, on other pages, there are field notes on his friends. There are mentions about AI and his quirks, and about how to talk to Naoki and Aoi. There are hand-drawn maps of Den City with routes to his school and to the train station.

_ I didn't draw these,  _ Yuusaku thinks, and as soon as the thought leaves his mind, his heart freezes in his chest. If he didn't write this, who did? And who could this person be?

It's then Yuusaku spots the writing on his  _ arm  _ – on his bare skin! Down his arm is the phrase "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Yuusaku repeats. "Who are ..."

Yuusaku remembers – not clearly, not succinctly, but he remembers Stardust Road, and the pixelated streets, and the buildings and the city and the life he wishes he lived. That day – that wasn't a day that he forgot; that was a day he lived in another city, in another  _ life. _

_ I'm not forgetting my days – I'm living them elsewhere. _

_ I'm living the life I've always wanted to life, across the ocean and at the end of Stardust Road.  _


	7. seven。

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this story isn't going to be massively long like some other projects i've started, but in a way this is good news because it means i'll have free time to write another crossover. i've received a bunch of asks on tumblr for crossovers with other mangas, so if you have a suggestion, send me an ask! (the link to my askbox is in the end-notes) i can't guarantee that i'll write for your idea, but at the very least i'll ramble about how i'd write it bc i love ygo crossovers! >w<

"Wow, look at him go!"

In this world, Ryouken feels like he has sprouted wings. While dueling in Link Vrains brings feelings of joy and excitement when he rides D-Boards, this place has its own charm too. The duelists all seem to act like themselves, not hiding behind personas or avatars or fake personalities. As much as Ryouken enjoys the concept of anonymous duelings, he does wish he could get to know people a bit better.

And people – everyone seems to know who Yuusaku is, and even though they all say "You're so quiet in class" or "Are you not in any clubs? What do you do then?", they still seem to flock to him. Ryouken embraces being the centre of attention whenever he can.

Across the dueling field, his opponent groans loudly, throwing her head back. "You've won every single match," she says through her teeth. "What are you, the best duelist in existence?"

Ryouken shrugs, a wry smile on his lips. "Maybe."

All around them, the crowd cheers. Students have come to watch, circling around the dueling field with rapt interest. On the sidelines, Ryouken sees Yuusaku's friends, Naoki and Aoi. Both of them seem the most surprised, and while Naoki whoops and cheers with glee, Aoi simply watches him with narrowed,  blue eyes.

Ryouken knows he's acting nothing like Yuusaku, but frankly he doesn't care. In this body, he's the centre of attention. He's not working his life away as a hacker in a dueling building – he's out in the open air, going to school and living life. He lives in a city that seems to know his name.

However, when the match ends Ryouken sneaks away from the spotlight and dashes around the building. In his backpack is a notebook Yuusaku has been writing in – it's a message board of sorts for the two of them. Though neither of them know who the other is, or why they are switching bodies, they've determined that, until the mess is resolved, they should write to one another to let the other person know what they've missed.

After each day, Ryouken writes a sort of diary of the day's happenings. The last time he wrote a note, it read:  _ You're the number one duelist at your school – congratulations. Enjoy the fame. Your lil AI friend is annoying and you should probably get rid of him before he takes over the world. _

Today, there's a note from Yuusaku: 

_ Stop making new friends. You aren't the Cool Guy at school and you never will be. Stop egging Naoki on. Listen to Aoi – she's more rational. _

_ Stop egging AI on too. He's not going to take over the world – he'll just get into my shit and tease me. _

Ryouken sighs noisily. It's hard to keep up with all of Yuusaku's demands. Ryouken never thought he'd be such a picky guy, but it always seems that he can't get anything right ... not that it bugs him all that much. When Ryouken wakes up in Yuusaku's body, it brings the biggest grin to his face, like waking up in the morning and seeing clear, sunny skies above the water.

Apparently it's the same for Yuusaku. Yuusaku's notes are much shorter, often point-form or incomplete sentences, but Ryouken can still spot the feeling in them. Yuusaku likes living in Link Vrains more than Den City, and while Ryouken will never understand why, he's glad then that they're switching bodies. It doesn't happen often, but when it does ...

Ryouken smiles.

He loves this new life.

* * *

As strange as Spectre can be, Yuusaku enjoys his company. When they go out to eat, Spectre's mouth is so full of food that he stays quiet, and Yuusaku can properly enjoy the peace and quiet of Link Vrains. Even when they walk to school, the only person that talks to him is Spectre.

And then there's work at the dueling centre.

When Yuusaku steps through the front doors, he feels like he's walked into a mansion. Sitting on the counter is Vyra, kicking her legs back and forth. She curls one finger around her hair and smiles. "Hey there."

"Hey." Yuusaku holds up a white take-out bag. "Food." When he and Spectre went out for lunch, he bought extra, not because he was hungry, but because it looked good and he wanted to try something new. The food in Link Vrains is better than ever before, and Yuusaku has found himself stepping out of his comfort zone of boring, tasteless foods.

Vyra comes skipping over and peers into the bag. Her eyes widen, sparkles visible in her irises. "For me?"

"Leftovers," Yuusaku says. He doesn't care much for Vyra either, but she's less annoying than anyone he's ever met in Den City. She knows when to keep her nose out of private business and doesn't ask too many questions, and deep down Yuusaku thinks her opinion and skills are valuable. He's seen her work before; she's a skilled duelist.

"You know," Vyra says, reaching inside to grab the container. It has little mochi balls, softly coloured with pastel dyes, and filled with some weird protein flavouring that Spectre swears is the best thing since sliced bread. Vyra takes one between her nimble fingers and pops it into her mouth. "You know," she says again, "I think I've seen you at this cafe before."

"Really."

She rolls her eyes. "Really – with that white-haired boy."

"My classmate." Yuusaku shrugs. He steps to the side, ready to head to work, but Vyra holds him back.

"You're still so quiet, but ... thanks. For this." She holds up the container, and pops another bite into her mouth. "It was really sweet of you."

Yuusaku's heart makes a loud  _ thump!,  _ and, cheeks red, he turns away. "You're welcome," he says, and turns on his heel to leave. He hurries down the hallway and to the computer room, where he plops himself down before the hunking screens. Before he begins working though, Yuusaku pulls out his duel disk and flips through the journal entries.

The last one he wrote to Ryouken reads: _ Out with Spectre. Went to work with Vyra. Life is good. _

The reply he's gotten back is just a bit longer:  _ Wait, you've done what? What does that even mean? How am I supposed to know anything you've done or talked about if you give me just three things – and not even three full things. Write more next time. _

Yuusaku sighs. What is he supposed to do, tell him about every single time Spectre makes a Mother Tree jokes or complains about the environment? Or every time he talks about himself? Is he supposed to detail all the work he's done even though it's clear which lines of code are his – Yuusaku is far better at coding than Ryouken.

But still … 

Still this life feels better than whatever he has in Den City. This feels like the life he should have lead, and wanted to lead – and despite the ups and downs, and Ryouken complaining about his slip-ups, Yuusaku thinks, deep down in his heart, Ryouken likes Yuusaku living his life too.

* * *

One day, Ryouken wakes up in Yuusaku's body and it feels different than all the times before. For one, the bed is ... moving. The entire vehicle too. Ryouken feels the bed shift every time the wheels ride over a bump, and he claws himself upright and peers through a slit in the doorway. Outside of the room, Shouichi sits in the driver's seat, with AI perched on his shoulder.

_ We're ... driving?  _ Ryouken thinks. He knew Yuusaku lived inside a hotdog truck, but he didn't know that it moved.

As if he could sense Ryouken's awakening, AI turns his head around and grins. "Ah, the king has risen."

Ryouken covers a yawn with his mouth. "Where ... are we going?"

"Somewhere special," AI says with a sly grin. "Don't you remember? We told you yesterday."

Ryouken nods. He grimaces at the sight of his rumpled school uniform, and he kicks back the door so that he can change in privacy. He checks his phone too; however, Yuusaku's messages are as bland as salt, and there's nothing that says he was supposed to go on a trip today. Noisily, Ryouken sighs. How is he supposed to live Yuusaku's life when he can barely keep track of what's going on?

When Ryouken opens the door again, AI stands directly in front of him.

"Say, Mr. Playmaker," he says. "Don't you think the water looks mighty nice today?"

"It looks ..." But the rest of the words don't make it out of his mouth. Up ahead, Ryouken sees the beautiful, spiraling sight of the starlight on the water. It must still be the wee hours of the morning, and so the sun hasn't appeared and blotted out the stars. All across the water are polka-dots of light, glistening in the dark air. There's no clear division between the sky and the sea, and even when Ryouken squints his eyes, he can't seem to pick out any major details.

"We're going for a drive today," Shouichi says. "It's stated to be a beautiful sunny day, and I want to park over by a new venue."

Whenever Ryouken has woken up in Yuusaku's body, he's only ever been in the same place. This is the first time Ryouken has ever seen the truck move. Carefully, Ryouken shifts to the passenger seat, crossing one leg on top of the other. He stifles a yawn in his fist, and glances towards Shouichi. Deep bags drag down his eyes, purpling his skin.

"Haven't slept?" Ryouken asks before the words have even registered in his mind.

"Yeah," Shouichi says with a dry laugh. "You slept like the dead though – haven't seen you sleep through the whole night in a long time."

Ryouken swallows. Though he's lived in Yuusaku's body for over a month now, he's found that he doesn't know much  _ about  _ Yuusaku. None of Yuusaku's friends seem to know him. The closest person to him must be Shouichi, but with school and work, Ryouken has rarely found time to ask Shouichi – and asking Yuusaku is out of the question. Yuusaku keeps his life locked up tighter than a secret chest.

"Guess I needed the sleep," Ryouken says. He twists his lips around, wondering what he can say next that might be the sort of thing Yuusaku would say. "I think things are going well."

"Are they?" Shouichi says with a raise of an eyebrow. "Do you think it's because of Link Vrains?"

Link ...

Ryouken's eyes widen. "Link Vrains?" he blurts out, and then, at Shouichi's surprised stare, Ryouken adds, "Yeah, I hear more about it every day."

Shouichi laughs. "New information should come out this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the coding that's going into this. If it's Zaizen who's coding, I wonder what it might look like. I have a sneaking suspicion the results won't be the same as the concept art."

Ryouken laughs. "That's because Zaizen is so self-confident that he isn't looking for help from any other data server. Every other city has Link Vrains, and he's not borrowing data or assistance from any of them."

This is the theory Ryouken has proposed. He's still not sure how there isn't Link Vrains in every city, but then again Den City seems much, much smaller than anywhere else Ryouken has seen. His own body has been digitally downloaded into the cybernet too, so perhaps this is just what life is like outside of a computer.

Ryouken doesn't get a chance to speak up though, for Shouichi pulls the truck into a sharp turn and drives up a steep hill. Ryouken glances from side to side – is this really the venue Shouichi mentioned?

"We're going for a detour first," Shouichi says. "Don't worry, I'm not lost."

Ryouken nods stiffly. Out the window, he watches the trees whip by in angry, black slashes against the moonlit sky. No matter where Ryouken looks, he sees the sky and the sea. The van travels up a winding path that at times makes Ryouken worry that they're going to tip over, but Shouichi carefully guides the van along the road.

And then Ryouken can see the stars on the water. It's not quite a path, but it's so,  _ so  _ similar to Stardust Road that it takes Ryouken's breath away. The stars reach out as far as it can to where the sky must meet the sea, and beyond that Ryouken imagines someone gazing back and him, reaching out to him –

He wishes Yuusaku were here to see this sight too.

"I definitely think Zaizen based Stardust Road off of this sight," Shouichi says.

Ryouken nods. There's no sight more beautiful than Stardust Road. There's nothing else in the world Ryouken would wake up for.

Shouichi parks the van at the edge of the road, and the two of them, with AI on Shouichi's shoulder, hop out and walk across the dewy grass. The waterside is blocked off by a fence, but Ryouken easily steps over it and stands with his back to the wood, holding tight. His toes curl over the edge; below him, the waves ebb and flow to his heartbeat.

_ I wish you were here today to see this too, Yuusaku. _

Ryouken has seen Stardust Road so many times; he even lives on it. This can't be the same sea with the same starlit path, but Ryouken still stretches out and arm, catching the moonlight in his fingertips. He mumbles the words on his lips: "Three things."

"Still think you can walk across it?" AI says.

Ryouken startles. "Huh?"

"I've heard you mumble in your sleep before," AI says. He's hopped off of Shouichi's shoulder and now sits along Ryouken's collarbone. "You think you can walk all the way across the water like some god. Maybe you'll be able to do that in Link Vrains, huh?"

"I bet you can," Ryouken says. In fact, he  _ knows  _ he can. He wonders if he can jump off this ledge right now and walk across to where Yuusaku is living in his body. When Link Vrains exists, Ryouken wonders if he'll meet Yuusaku in his body, and the two of them will surprise each other by being able to meet for the first time. As strange as it sounds, Ryouken wishes it.

Carefully, he squats down and dangles his legs over the edge. He senses AI's bated breath against his ear, but Ryouken doesn't drop down – he's not stupid. But he hangs himself on what feels like the edge of the world, his toes inches from the milky water – and when he looks across the sea, he thinks he sees a glimmer of a figure on the other side, looking right back at him.

_ I know you're out there,  _ he thinks.  _ Remember, three things – three beautiful sights, three important people, three reasons to live – _

When Ryouken opens his eyes though, he's no longer standing at the edge of the world. He's looking up at his own ceiling, his room alight not with moonlight but sunshine. The sea is still before him, but it no longer looks quite so beautiful. In fact, when Ryouken sits up, his body groans weakly. His face feels hot and sticky, and he runs his fingers over his cheeks to find ... tears?

Tears, hot and sticky and salty. They cling to his fingertips until Ryouken wipes his hands on his sheets. He's been crying? He glances around the room, but he's the only one here.

_ Were you crying last night, Yuusaku?  _ That's right – yesterday, Yuusaku was living in his body. It feels like he's run a marathon and dueled with all his spirit, and Ryouken slumps back into his bed and reaches for his duel disk. Hopefully, Yuusaku has written a detailed note of what happened yesterday.

However, as per usual, the day planner is remarkably bland with the only note being:  _ go to work today. _

_ Could you give me something more useful than that?  _ Ryouken thinks, glaring down at his phone. Of course he's going to work today – he normally works on the weekends too, so it's not like Yuusaku's notes have given him any real pointers.

Sighing, Ryouken combs his fingers through his hair, and then stands up and gets himself ready to leave. He considers walking to work in his uniform, but thinks better when he looks outside. It's warm and sunny, and so he changes into shorts and a polo shirt, and tucks his work uniform inside his backpack.

When he steps outside, the sunlight nearly blinds him, and he flips down a pair of shades. The sun is glistening off the water like diamonds under the surface, and as far as he can see there are crystalline trails of sunshine. A gentle breath wraps around his cheeks, and even when Ryouken descends into the narrower roads of downtown Link Vrains, he feels the breeze. Then, when he passes under the pixellated path snaking around the buildings, he leaps onto his activated D-Board.

Head up in the clouds, Ryouken can see far and wide other duelists racing around the track. In the past, there had been dangerous incidents of violent Riding Duels, but now Link Vrains is one of the safest cities, free from cyber-terrorists and hackers. Ryouken remembers hearing from his father about the terrible early stages of Link Vrains, but now ... now it's been fixed.

Ryouken slows down as he approaches the dueling arena, but he doesn't leap off his board – no, someone comes up to meet him.

Vyra.

Ryouken has never seen her in casual wear, and he finds himself staring at her blouse and cardigan, and her skirt that hugs her hips and thighs. She doesn't look particularly dressed up, but there's something about the situation that has Ryouken stepping back and raising his guards.

"What's with that face?" she says, stepping closer. "Are you still asleep?"

"No," Ryouken says, and then purses his lips. He'd rather not ask her to explain what's going on, even though that might be all he needs to figure out why she's standing before him oh so expectantly.

Vyra keeps staring at him. "Well?"

Ryouken narrows his eyes.

With a  _ huh,  _ Vyra brings her hands together. "You've lost your memory today, haven't you? I didn't think you had, not since you've come in casual clothes, but I guess you forgot about today. Well ..." She smiles at him. "Didn't you say you wanted to duel me? We've both got the day off."

_ D-duel? _

_ Yuusaku, what the fuck did you get me involved in?  _


	8. eight。

_ A duel? A legit duel with Vyra? _

Ryouken thinks that he's swallowed entire thumbtacks. As he follows Vyra down the path, weaving his board around casual duelists chatting together, and making way for duelists locked in a heated battle, he tries to think just how this could come together. Yuusaku doesn't seem like the type of person to ask someone out on a date, so that must mean Vyra posed the question. But as long as Ryouken has known Vyra he has never seen her act lovey-dovey to him, so why would she pop the date question  _ now? _

_ Does she like Yuusaku?  _ After all, the two of them are quite different. However, even then that story doesn't fit. Ryouken wishes he could simply read her mind and ask her to explain what's going on. However, he hangs back, following her down the pixelated pathway outside of the city. Soon, the landscape dissolves from big city to open fields. There are still dueling tracks extending as far as the eye can see, even towards the blue water.

"I think we should duel out here," Vyra says at last. She spins her board around, adjusting her posture so as to not fall to the side. She looks back at him with a warm smile, and Ryouken stares down at his feet.

"Do you think you'll stand a chance?" Ryouken says after a moment. He holds up his hands. "Three reasons why you're you're going to lose --"

"Hey!" Vyra says with a chuckle. "Save the chatter for after the match, Revolver!"

She dashes through the air, veering to the side so that Ryouken can drive parallel to her. Then the duel begins. Any time Ryouken has dueled someone, he's always won; he's never lost a single match, or even become close enough to worry about losing. With Vyra, there's no exception -- she runs a good deck, but it's no match for his complex combos, particularly Data Storm. She doesn't stand a chance the moment she cries, "Let's duel!" and Ryouken blows away her LP in just a few turns.

But then they duel again, and again, travelling down the path all the way across the water. Below Ryouken's feet he sees the waves ebb and flow, dotted with crystals. The further out he travels, the more he sees of Stardust Road. No matter what time of day it is, no matter where he is, Ryouken can always find Stardust Road.

Vyra seems to see it too, and she doesn't say anything or take her turn; instead, she glides next to him. They both slow down their boards, the duel forgotten. Ryouken stares out of the corner of his eye at her -- has she ever looked across the water too? What has she seen staring back at her?

_ Do you have someone you share your life with?  _ Ryouken wonders.  _ Do you have someone in your life like Yuusaku, someone with a life so much  _ better  _ than yours? Or maybe you have someone living in this world, like a rich cousin or a gifted sibling, and you think,  _ Well fuck, they're always better than me.  _ And you hate them, but you also ... You also want to know more about them -- how they're doing, how they're succeeding. _

"How come you're acting so differently today?" Vyra asks. And when he doesn't respond, she adds, "I'm going to pry."

"It's nothing," Ryouken says. He pushes their boards together, and then reaches across and points his fingers to her head "Bang, bang. There?"

"There what? As if that makes you yourself again?" She crosses her arms over her chest. "Your school friends might believe that, but I know there's something on your mind -- and you don't have to tell me, but at least tell someone. Don't you live by yourself?"

"Yes."

“Don’t answer that so bluntly.” She stretches her arms up to the blue sky, and then spreads them wide like the great wings of an angel. Back when Ryouken first started at his job, he liked her a bit – not romantically, but in a mentoring, big-sister sort of way. She was the type of adult who would take new workers under her wing and show them the ropes in a way that wasn’t patronising. Now though, Ryouken feels like he can spread his own wings and sail across the sea …

“You are different though,” Vyra says again, “and don’t get me wrong, I like it, but it’s like you’re still figuring yourself out, and I’m not sure if I want to get involved in your hormonal shifts –”

“What –”

“– but you shouldn’t worry about whether things are right or perfect. Just … be. Feel. And though I might not be the best person to talk to you … let stuff off your chest once in a while.”

He feels knives in his throat. Let … someone in? How stupid can he be? Who would want to know about him? And besides, when would that happen? School, work, and dueling – three things he lives for. When would he have any time to have a heart-to-heart conversation with anyone? 

Vyra shrugs her shoulders, hair bopping up and down. “I want to understand you … but I don’t think I’m the right person for the job.”

Ryouken shrugs his shoulders too; he doesn’t really want to tell Vyra whatever he’s feeling either.

“But I hope you find someone,” she says, and her eyes drift to the crystalline waters of Stardust Road. She seems to look far and wide, and Ryouken wonders if she can see the same, beautiful sight; or if she sees something wholly different but equally breathtaking. What does Stardust Road look like to anyone else not swept up in its beauty?

_ I want to understand you though.  _ He rolls the words off his tongue and around his lips, toying with the feelings the words evoke deep in his soul. He wishes he could say them, but it doesn’t feel like the right time for any heart-to-heart. Vyra’s right; he’s not ready to talk to her. But someone – someone Ryouken has yet to met but desperately wants to see … that someone is a person Ryouken wants to understand.

After a while, Vyra rides off and away from the sunset, and Ryouken hangs around, legs dangling off the side of his D-Board. He lets the board sway and tip with the breeze, and he doesn’t try to right himself even when he thinks he’ll fall off. He keeps his head forward and his gaze focused on Stardust Road.

_ Are you watching too, Yuusaku? _

* * *

“What do you  _ mean  _ you’re not going to the grand unveiling? Don’t you want to be one of the first players logged into the system?”

Yuusaku shrugs his shoulders. “I’ll just by the system online and download it onto Kusanagi’s computer –”

“But that ruins all the fun in it!” Naoki stamps his feet up and down like a child, face red. “Half of the fun in getting the game is waiting outside the shop until midnight for the grand unveiling. You’d meet so many duelists, probably even learn some insider intel about what avatars everyone is creating and if Sol Tech has leaked any information. So come  _ on,  _ Yuusaku, you have to go.”

Yuusaku shrugs again, and then steps back so that Naoki doesn’t try to one-arm hug him. 

“There’s no reason to stand in line for a game that won’t sell out online. I can play it sooner too if I wait at home and download –”

“But then you won’t know about the other players.”

“Who cares?” Shoving his hands in his pockets, Yuusaku adds, “I won’t duel most of them anyways.”

Naoki seems unperturbed. “But Yuusaku, that’s the magic of Link Vrains: you can duel people all across the globe.”

Yuusaku knows that detail; in fact, for at least a couple months duelists across the dimensions have been dueling in virtual reality. It’s only Den City, and some of the minor villages, that haven’t received access to the newest and great dueling technology. But Yuusaku doesn’t plan on dueling anyone right away unless it’ll be for quests or achievements. He’s not interested in PVP unless there’s a gain of some kind, and so far, with the leaks of Link Vrains and all, the interface has become less focused on PVP and more user-friendly dueling tech.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yuusaku sees a flash of brown hair. Naoki sees it too, and he throws up his arms and shouts, “Aoi! Aoi, are you going to the release –”

“I’m buying it online.”

Naoki nearly drops to his knees and cries in the middle of the classroom. “Why? Why you two, why won’t you come with me? It’s one night, just a few hours – and it’s not like you need any special tech or anything. Our regular ol’ duel disks will work fine –”

“Which is why,” Aoi interrupts, “there’s no point in going out for a downloadable game.”

“It’s the social experience!”

“I’ll pass.” And without another word, she turns away and heads down the hall, skirts rustling. Yuusaku watches her go, and then hikes up his backpack and follows her. He won’t walk home with her, but this is an opportunity to escape Naoki.

Besides, Yuusaku isn’t going home anyways – at least not yet. When he heads out of the school, instead of turning down the street and taking his usual route back to Kusanagi’s van, he instead heads out onto one of the country roads that snakes all along the coast of the dimension. The road quickly narrows, cement turning into gravel turning into dust; the further out he heads, the fewer people Yuusaku sees.

Soon, he leaves the city entirely. Behind him, Yuusaku sees twinkling, sparkling lights of billboards and car blinkers. He sees the world as if it were a pop-up book, and after one more glance over his shoulder, Yuusaku tells himself to never look back. He wanders along the narrow path, following the edge of the coast as it dips and bends around the jagged corners of the dimension. Sometimes, Den City looks like its been cut out of the galaxies as its own tiny microcosm. But then, when Yuusaku wanders far enough, he sees sights that cannot solely belong to a boring place like Den City.

Spread out like the stars themselves lies Stardust Road. At twilight, the stars look as if they have dropped from the sky and into the sea. Yuusaku sees a growing, milky path too, starting from where the moon has dipped low into the horizon, and creeping closer towards the coastline. It looks like a slippery snake free of its place on the moon.

Yuusaku follows the dirt path up to a hill overlooking Stardust Road, and he makes himself comfortable on the damp grass, tucking his knees up to his chin. There isn’t a car, person, or animal in sight, and the only sounds he can hear are the rustle of the leaves and the soft pants of his breath.

Reaching into his backpack, Yuusaku extracts his duel disk. He already has the Link Vrains app downloaded, even though the system has yet to be released.

He checks his watch – three more minutes.

A sigh. 

_ Two. _

Yuusaku feels a thrumming deep within his chest. His fingers itch to press the button, but not yet, not until it’s fully available can he step into the magical, beautiful world of Link Vrains.

_ One. _

Ryouken.

Yuusaku thinks about the mysterious boy with hair the colour of starlight, flecked with a gentle green that reminds Yuusaku of the awkward green coding on his computer.

The app flashes on the screen.

_ Zero. _

_ It’s time,  _ Yuusaku thinks. He swallows his next breath, and then gazes out to the stretch of Stardust Road.  _ You’re out there, Ryouken, just across the water, just a step away from me – and I’m coming. I’m here, and I’ll walk across this water to … to be next to you. I hope you’re looking at the same sky as me, sitting out at Stardust Road waiting for me, so – _

Yuusaku presses the button.

_ Into the Vrains! _

* * *

Ryouken holds his duel disk in both hands, gazing at the large, digital screen. He’s been trying to call Yuusaku, or get a hold of him in Link Vrains. Surely Yuusaku has Link Vrains by now; he said he was supposed to log in today. But nothing has changed in Link Vrains, not even the colour of the sky or the faint, futuristic tinge. It looks too normal, too familiar –

Ryouken calls Yuusaku again. He doesn’t have his number, but he’s been trying to call “Playmaker” for the past ten minutes, hoping anyone, maybe not even Yuusaku but one of his friends, will pick up. Yet no one has answered, and the more Ryouken tries, the more frustrated he becomes.

After the tenth failed call, he throws his duel disk as far as he can, back towards the fields and trees overlooking the water. Ryouken screams and it, but then as soon as he sees the screen briefly flicker, he charges back through the sky. The nose of his board lands in the ground and Ryouken falls forward, coughing so hard he nearly vomits.

“Yuu …”

There, lying not five feet away from him, is his duel disk – and even from this distance, Ryouken can see that not even a background change has happened on his duel disk. No message, no notification – nothing. With a growl, Ryouken snatches up the duel disk, blowing off the dirt, and searches through his diary.

_ Come on, come on, Yuusaku! What happens next?  _

He feels tears begin to leak from his eyes, and hurriedly he brushes them aside. For some reason, a painful, lurching feeling has dug deep into his core, and Ryouken feels his own breath go faint. He wants to ask himself what’s happening and convince himself that nothing has changed – not even the smallest difference – and yet he feels the tears begin to pour down his cheeks. Hurriedly, he changes into his avatar, Revolver, so at least his face will be hidden. It even muffles his sobs.

What doesn’t change though is the fact that his heart nearly rends in two. Ryouken clutches his chest, waiting for the feeling of blood on his fingertips. Wait, is this the feeling of a heart attack? Or maybe an ulcer? Maybe both?

_ Yuusaku!  _ Ryouken suddenly screams, and then louder, “Yuusaku! Yuusaku, what – what’s happening –”

He shakes his duel disk again and again, and then hurriedly calls out his D-Board. As fast as he can, Ryouken charges up, up, up to the sky, to the dark rain clouds overhead, to the changes upon changes upon –

It’s dark.

There’s not a single star in the sky, nor a single light glimmering across the water. Ryouken can’t see where the sea meets the sky, but rather than feel a sense of surrealness or surprise, he feels a mounting terror, greater than anything he ever felt on the ground. His throat feels scratchy and sticky, and even when he yanks off his mask he can’t see anything around him.

He feels truly alone.

“Yuu … saku.”

Stardust Road has disappeared.


	9. nine。

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy 69 kudos and thank you for all the love, support, and encouragement!

_ “The number you have dialed is not in service.” _

Ryouken sighs into his desk. He’s never tried calling Yuusaku before, but he had the number and everything else he needed, and so he thought maybe – just maybe – he’d take that chance and make the first step, bridge the connection –

And then he never heard back from Yuusaku. For two whole days Ryouken lived his life without swapping bodies with Yuusaku. For two full days he remembers his boring, virtual life in Link Vrains with Spectre and Vyra, and neither of them comment again on his changing moods … or at least, on the positive changes.

“You look like a kicked puppy,” Spectre says with an impish grin. He leans down, eyebrows rising up towards his hairline; he looks like a troll that’s come across its prey, and Ryouken pushes his face away; the last person he wants to deal with is Spectre. 

Not a second later, Spectre stares eye-to-eye with him again. “Seriously, Ryouken, why the long face?” A chuckle. “What, you finally lose a duel or something? Vyra kick your ass to the curb?” Another pause. “You didn’t get the promotion you wanted? You lost out on a chance of a lifetime? You lost your wallet, your house, everything that matters –”

“Bang, bang,” Ryouken mumbles, pushing Spectre to the side.

“I know it’s you in there and not that quiet split personality of yours, but that doesn’t mean you’re acting normal either – and I don’t want to help you and hold your hand, but at the very least I want to hear you –”

“Stop.” Ryouken pushes himself off the desk, wiping at his eyes and mouth in case any ‘condensation’ has gathered at the corners. He stands but does not begin walking, his legs heavier than lead and chained down to the classroom floor. He and Spectre are the only two students left in class; even the student helpers who clean the desks and sweep the floors have gone home or to club activities.

Spectre hops up onto the empty space of Ryouken’s desk, swinging his legs back and forth. He toys with the crisp collar of his uniform jacket, and adjusts the tie wrapped around his neck. Then he snaps his fingers – once, twice, thrice – and says, “You haven’t been any of your selves, you know that?”

Ryouken lifts an eyebrow. “What?”

“Like there’s the you that I know, the ‘Revolver,’ the greatest duelist out there. And then there was that other you that you don’t remember, the quiet, sensitive boy who didn’t even know where he lived and worked. And then … and then there’s this you, all mopey and weird. What, you going through puberty again?”

Ryouken pushes a finger into Spectre’s head. “Enough. I’m feeling fine – you’re being nosey and suspicious. Besides, I … have all my memories. I remember everything.”

“You sure you didn’t just repress it so much you didn’t even know it happened?”

“No,” Ryouken growls out. No, he knows this for a fact because Yuusaku hasn’t left a single note in his diary; Ryouken has even waited until the next day to write something, just in case Yuusaku leaves a note like “use your diary more” or “score – did this.” Ryouken yearns for any communication with Yuusaku, but ever since the last body swap, and that horrible day when the lights on Stardust Road disappeared – and Ryouken later found out it was just a minor glitch in the system during scheduled maintenance, and Sol Tech fixed it within the hour – Ryouken hasn’t seen Yuusaku once.

“I missed that you, anyways,” Spectre says. “You were so quiet, and you let me go to my favourite cafe, and you just … existed. Like you were so enthralled by the city, literal galaxies in your eyes, and yet you kept your mouth shut –”

“I’ll sew your mouth shut,” Ryouken says, and then he feels himself blush – not purposefully, but because he suddenly remembers the incident with Vyra and her ripped skirt. Yesterday Vyra came around with a tear in her shirt and asked him to sew it up, and Ryouken mangled the poor garment so badly that in the end the rip was twice the size of what it originally was. She’d then told him,  _ Maybe it was just a stroke of luck that day – besides, you’re one of the best artists I know, so I guess you can’t be good at everything. _

When Ryouken sees Spectre lean towards him, he stretches out his hand and catches the side of Spectre's face. He pushes it away, and then further back; Spectre topples to the side and out of the way, gingerly bringing a hand up to his cheek. 

“You sure this isn’t hormones?”

“I feel fine,” Ryouken lies. “And stop saying that. Nothing has changed. Nothing. You and Vyra and whoever else are all just imagining things.”

Spectre shrugs – and then his face splits into yet another shit-eating grin. He leans close as if to tell Ryouken a personal secret, and then when Ryouken nearly whacks him with the heel of his hand, he veers to the side and leans on the desk. 

“Wanna grab something to eat?”

“No.”

“Come on – you don’t even work today, do you? If you do, then you’re skipping your shift.”

“I don’t,” Ryouken says, and then sighs noisily through his nose. “Fine. Let’s go.”

They take off at once, down the hallways that seem to swallow them whole, and then out the doors that, for a second, seem to lead to an alternate dimension. Once the light disappears behind a cloud though, Ryouken sees that it’s the same, boring landscape: the buildings clumped together, and weaving through them the pixelated dueling paths. 

It all looks  _ the same. _

Ryouken walks in line with Spectre, with his head held high – but he doesn’t speak, not even when they head into town, or into the cafe. He picks out a bento box and a bottle of pop, and pays for it as Spectre debates between several different choices, each one looking more stranger than the next. According to Spectre, all the food here is edible, but Ryouken knows that some o it is meant to stay attached to the earth.

But when Spectre heads out the door, Ryouken pauses. He and Spectre normally eat in the cafe where the quaint, peopley sounds fill their ears. In fact, Ryouken likes the sounds of life: the clinking of china, the mumbles of people conversing. But Spectre keeps on walking down a path that leads into a forest of thick, Japanese maples. At times, Ryouken thinks he’ll lose Spectre behind the leaves, but then he reappears like an apparition, and Ryouken keeps following him through the woods. It isn’t until the path diverts, just barely, that Spectre veers off through a cluster of trees.

A grove. 

The trees are encircled together, their branches stretching up to create a sort of roof over their heads. Through the foliage Ryouken can still see the clouds and the sun, and everything looks warmer and brighter.

“I took you here, believe it or not,” Spectre says, settling back against a tree trunk. “You probably don’t remember because it was the day you skipped class.”

Ryouken doesn’t remember anything of that day. Of course, it doesn’t help that Yuusaku left no indicators about what had happened that day – all he wrote was  _ ate lunch with Spectre.  _ But now Ryouken glances around and feels light pangs in his heart, as if he wishes he could have spent this day with Yuusaku … too. 

No.

But yes.

If Ryouken is honest with himself, he wishes he spent every day with Yuusaku so that, maybe, his life here in Link Vrains could be a little more entertaining. 

With a shake of his head, Ryouken takes a seat next to Spectre and opens his lunch. He picks at it, not really hungry in the first place, but with his mouth full he doesn’t have to talk. Bit by bit, the awkwardness of the day fades away, replaced by a quaint calmness. If this is the Link Vrains Yuusaku sees, then no wonder he was enamored by it – Ryouken would want to live in a place like this too. Yet at the same time he clearly remembers his time in Den City, in the hot dog van with Kusanagi and AI, and at school. Everyone knew his name, his face … and he wasn’t just the top duelist; no, he was a friend, maybe even a family –

“I’m going to miss that other you.”

Ryouken turns his head to the side. “What?”

_ Snap, snap, snap.  _

“I’m going to miss that other you, the one that came here with me. He was cool.”

“Stop talking about me as if I have a personality disorder,” Ryouken mumbles.

“But you know,” Spectre says, setting down his lunch, “at the same time, you were pretty sad.”

“Huh?”

“You were so lonely, so out of touch with everything. It’s like when you came here, all lost and disoriented and confused, you were looking for someone – not me, or Vyra, or anyone really … but you had this look in your eye as if you were on a quest. And it wasn’t even your aloof loneliness like you’re too good for anyone, but like you didn’t know who to talk to or be with.” Spectre shrugs his shoulders. “I dunno.”

Ryouken snaps closed his lunch and pushes it into his bag. He doesn’t feel hungry anymore, and besides he doesn’t really want to be here in the first place.

A hand on his shoulder stills him. “Do you really want to meet that other guy?”

Ryouken swallows.

“Where does he live? Don’t you know his name?”

_ Yuusaku,  _ Ryouken thinks, and the word stills on his tongue. But more than that, his mind begins to churn like the cogs of a great, lumbering machine, and memories rush through his mind like the processing of a computer. He remembers. He remembers the streets of Den City, and the mountains, and the people. He remembers every little detail like he’s seeing it through a crack in reality, and suddenly Ryouken’s hands itch to draw, to create –

A map.

He knows the map to Yuusaku.

Yanking the straps of his backpack over his shoulders, Ryouken hurries out of the grove and back onto the main streets. He runs as fast and as far as he can, until his breath comes in wheezy pants – and then he keeps running, just a bit slower, all the way to the boardwalk snaking up to his house on the hill. Ryouken never checked to see if Spectre followed him, but when he glances over his shoulder he only sees the empty sidewalk.

Ryouken finds a seat on a bench overlooking Stardust Road. He opens his diary app on his duel disk and creates a new page – a blank page where he can draw. And he does draw, sweeping lines and shading wherever seems right. At times, Ryouken doesn’t even know what he’s drawing, but in his mind is the clearest map and sketches of Den City that he knows he can put to paper.

He doesn’t even realise it’s grown dark until the screen turns yellow from the artificial lighting. The sea has swallowed the stars and moon once more, and the dark waters gently lap against the walls of the boardwalk. Ryouken glances down at his map, still incomplete, and swallows thickly.

_ That’s close enough.  _

He remembers almost everything about Den City, the beautiful world that he fell in love with. It looks so familiar and realistic to him that, even in just the brief sketches he’s done, he can spot Kusanagi’s hot dog van, and Yuusaku’s school, and the country road leading out to the best viewing place of Stardust Road. There are even smaller details too, little shops and streets that Ryouken remembers wanting to visit, or other hot dog places that Kusanagi told him weren’t even competitors because their food was so shitty.

_ I know more about Den City than I do about here,  _ Ryouken realises with a grim chuckle.

But then an ache nestles in his heart. Ryouken misses that city. He misses going to class and dueling his classmates and having them not say right at the start “Why even bother? You’ll win anyways.” He misses Naoki and Aoi, and Kusanagi and AI, and all the familiar faces he began to see around town. Thinking back to the city itself, Ryouken misses the busy-yet-quiet streets and the warm air around him. Everything seems better over there, with everyone … with Yuusaku.

_ Why haven’t you come back?  _ Ryouken wants to ask.  _ How come I haven’t seen you? What happened? _

Gently, Ryouken pushes his fingers down on the paper. This place, Den City … would it also exist in Link Vrains? How close or far does Yuusaku live from him?

He searches it on his Duel Disk. The majority of the searches come up as “Removed by Sol Technology’s Department of Security” under whatever laws Zaizen Akira has put into place, but there are still images. Ryouken brings a hand to his mouth. The pictures that he sees – that has to be Den City. The buildings look familiar, and the streets too. There aren’t many pictures, and within the pictures there aren’t many details, but one clue sticks out to him:  _ located on the other side of the sea. _

Ryouken lifts his head to the sea, stars, and moon. 

“You were there,” he whispers. “Across the sea, looking back at me …”

Quickly, Ryouken hurries to his feet and races back to his house, hitting the door so hard that he swears the entire city heard him. He kicks off his shoes and drags his backpack to his room, where he begins to empty it of his workbooks and textbooks, and instead packs it full of clothing and then food, anything that he can fit into the pockets. As he packs, he searches how to cross the ocean. It’s impossible to travel by D-Boards not for the long distance driving, but sure enough there’s a road that leads around the water and to the other side.

As he checks his phone, his messenger goes off. 

_ Spectre: why’d you run away? got a hot date or something. _

_ Spectre: you skipping school tomorrow? i’ll join you. _

_ Spectre: if you’re leaving, i’m coming with you. i won’t hold you hand, but i want in on this. _

Ryouken sighs. He doesn’t want anyone else on this trip, but he also knows that he doesn’t have his own car. Spectre doesn’t either, but he might be able to acquire one easier. Or … Ryouken feels his throat go dry. He could ask Vyra, but that would mean she would come along too –

_ Spectre: Ask vyra too. Bring an adult. _

The more Ryouken thinks about it, the more of a headache it will be  _ not  _ to bring them along. Besides, he enjoyed the company of Naoki (sometimes) and Aoi (often) when he body swapped with Yuusaku, so going on a trip with Spectre (who he sometimes dislikes) and Vyra (who he rarely dislikes) sounds much better than putting up with their whining for weeks or months afterwards.

_ Ryouken: fine. Tomorrow at the boardwalk by my house – do not come to my door.  _

Then he copies and sends the message to Vyra too, adding on a quick note about what this trip entails. He gets replies back from both of them within a minute, and by that point Ryouken has packed all his essentials. Out his window, he sees the creeping moonlight through the blinds, and he leaves his backpack and duel disk lying on his bed. He needs to be away from that, just for a minute, just long enough to look out his balcony and try to see Yuusaku’s world.

“You’re out there, aren’t you?” Ryouken whispers.  _ So stop ignoring me and try to reach out again, just once more. What … what scared you away? My idiot friends? The new tech? Why can’t I see you anymore?  _

As softly as he can, Ryouken whispers, “Three things, Yuusaku. Three reasons why I want to see you again.” And then he counts: “One, you live in an interesting city; two, I want to see which one of us is the better duelist; and three, I … want to see you once more, just you.”

His knees turn to jelly, and he tumbles back onto one of the long sun chairs outside. His body melts into the seat, but rather than force himself back up, Ryouken stretches out and cups his hands behind his head, looking up to the milky sky. There aren’t any D-Paths leading into the heart of Stardust Road, but in the corner of his eye Ryouken can see the dusky shape of a path stretching around the other side, a part of the boardwalk he’s never explored before.

_ Tomorrow,  _ Ryouken thinks.

When he closes his eyes, he sees stars in his own vision – dazzling and bright, and as beautiful as the Stardust Road he knows Yuusaku falls asleep to too.


	10. ten。

Ryouken doesn’t know why he expects anything different.

First, there’s Spectre, leaning against the rails bordering the boardwalk in a  _ white suit.  _ Not his school uniform with the blue trim, not just a t-shirt, but a full two-piece suit in white, with his black dress shoes poking out. He looks like he has gel in his hair too, and his bangs frame the sides of his face, silvery at the tips. 

He looks like a gangster.

He also doesn't have any baggage with him.

Then there’s Vyra, dressed in shorts and a tank-top, looking cool but at least presentable for the trip. She has a wheelie suitcase behind her, not large enough for Ryouken to complain about taking too much space; after all, she’s got a convertible parked next to her. Ryouken’s mouth nearly drops to the floor, only stopped by the raise of her eyebrow. A – a convertible! A slick, black convertible with red or pink or even both trimming around the sides. The seats are black leather too, and sleek, silver accents decorate the dashboard.

Spectre whistles. “Sweet ride, huh?”

Ryouken tips his head forward. He passes his bags to Vyra and then, without a word, he hops into the passenger seat. He slides on the leather and feels the heat through his own slacks. He dressed formally too – slacks and a blazer – but he left the jacket buttons open as a casual touch. At the very least, he looks more dressed for a trip than Spectre, who grins from ear-to-ear at the side of the car.

“Get in the backseat,” Ryouken says, motioning towards the rear of the car.

Spectre lets out one dry laugh. “Where?”

“The back of –” Ryouken swallows the rest of his words. The car doesn't have a backseat; instead, the hood of the convertible rests behind his seat, tucked into a little compartment. Their luggage has been loaded into the trunk too, and Vyra comes around to sit at the wheel. It’s then Ryouken notices the  _ other  _ seatbelt oddly placed between him and Vyra.

“You can be in the middle,” Ryouken says, undoing his seatbelt to give Specte some room to climb in.

Vyra stops him with a gentle albeit firm hand on his arm. “I need a good navigator and your friend said he’s bad with directions.”

“He’s good enough,” Ryouken lies; he knows best how poorly Spectre’s sense of direction is. If he leaves the navigation to Spectre they’ll be turning laps around Link Vrains for hours instead of crossing the ocean.

Spectre holds the door closed though. “Oh no,” he says, “I will get us so lost we won’t even be able to make it back to your place.” A toothy grin. “Revolver, I trust your navigation skills too, so you need to sit next to Miss Vyra.”

“No –"

But Vyra doesn't hear him, and Spectre pretends not to hear him, and so with a gusty sigh Ryouken scooches over to sit next to Vyra and make space for Spectre to climb in. They sit together, hip to hip and shoulder to shoulder, without even an inch between them.When Ryouken breathes, he feels like presses even more against the other two passengers. No doubt it'll get hot and uncomfortable in here … or more so than it already is. 

Spectre leans in closer and whispers in Ryouken's ear, "Bet you wish you didn't take both of us along?" A snap of his fingers. "Psych, both of us would have come along anyways."

The convertible pulls off from the curb, and then shoots forward as Vyra presses the pedal down to the floor. The wheels screech and the engine roars, and they fly across the pavement as if the vehicle has sprouted wings. Ryouken feels his seatbelt dig into his chest. He's never driven with Vyra before, and though she always seemed like a rather cautious duelist, her driving skills are much more erratic. She takes sharp corners and squeals her tires. The boardwalk path is narrow and windy, and still she doesn't slow down even when Ryouken thinks the car might flip.

After a few minutes though, Ryouken slowly becomes accustom to the feeling of his stomach sloshing inside his belly, and the bite of the wind on his cheeks. He tries to ignore the constant contact from sitting between Spectre and Vyra, and instead he gazes out the window, watching the sea bleed out all around him.

"You ever been out this far?" Spectre asks.

Ryouken shakes his head.

"Me neither." Spectre stretches out an arm, dragging his finger across the coastline. "I've heard that this isn't even an ocean, and just a big saltwater lake or something ... but I've never been to the other side. But your friend lives out here ..." A smile tucks into the corner of his lips, and Ryouken doesn't even have a chance to raise his guards before Spectre blurts out, "Are you going on a date?"

"Wha –"

"I knew it! I knew you were dating someone!"

The car nearly veers off the road as Vyra gasps too. "Revolver, a da –"

"Eyes on the road," Ryouken growls out, giving Vyra a slight nudge with his shoulder to keep her focused on driving and not putting the vehicle in the water. "And no, it's not a date or anything like that. I just want to head out here to see something ..."

Spectre waves his hands through the air. "And care to share what you are dying to see? It's the reason you've been so mopey, right?" Another snap of his fingers. "Oh hey, if we head around to the other side of Stardust Road, are we going to see that sensitive other side of you?"

_ You mean Yuusaku?  _ Ryouken wishes he could say, but instead he pushes his teeth into his lip and stares out at the water. " I want to check something out ... about Den City."

"Den City?" Vyra says. "I think I read that name in a newspaper before."

"Me too," Spectre says. "Like I think there was an article about that city, or about someone from that city, or many someones ..." He taps his fingers against his chin, appearing lost in thought for a moment. "But then I haven't even seen Den City on the map before. Are we going on some treasure hunt for a lost city or something?"

It's Vyra who speaks up, groaning between her clenched teeth. "How about a little bit of a reality check – we're not playing a children's game. I think ... I think Den City is just at the edge of the map, like one of those little towns with farmers and duelists and such."

From what Ryouken remembers of Den City there were no farmers. It was a dueling city, sure, but more of a historic tabletop dueling community than Link Vrains' virtual dueling technology. But carefully Ryouken opens up the sketches he drew on an app on his duel disk and flicks through them. They're all rough drawings of the buildings and landscape, with some added details that Ryouken thought might be useful looking for a city he only knows the name of –

"Hey!" Spectre says, pushing against Ryouken. "What do you have –"

"Sketches," Ryouken says, closing the app with a click of his fingers. "And move back, it's already tight enough –"

"Is that how you're going to find Den City?" Spectre says. "Do you have photos? Here, let me look it up on my phone."

Ryouken opens his mouth to explain that any search of Den City proves fruitless – Sol Tech has adjusted the search settings – but Spectre sighs loudly when he get the same result.

"No information – what kind of place are we even going to?"

From his other side, Vyra asks, “Maybe we should just call someone from there and ask for directions. Do you know anyone from Den City?"

Ryouken swallows thickly. "I ... can't."

"Can't because you don't know anyone, or can't because you're too shy to contact them?" Spectre wriggles his eyebrows. "Hey Re-vol-ver, do you have a fancy date or something?"

"No," Ryouken says, "and just ... keep driving. Den City should be on the other side of Stardust Road, and we'll go from there."

"It would be easier to just call someone," Vyra says through her teeth, but she keeps on driving, speeding the car through hairpin turns that snake along the windy coast of Link Vrains. The further out the vehicle heads, the more the landscape becomes rugged and green. Since Link Vrains has been post-production for several years, the platform has exponentially grown to include multiple smaller dueling cities and mysterious venues. As a younger duelist, Ryouken used to travel all around Link Vrains' territory to see what new features Sol Tech had included.

To Ryouken's surprise, Link Vrains has grown even more since then. In the distance, he sees what looks like ruins, and then patches of lakes and shrines that have faded away with age. The further out from the main city they travel, the more the environment becomes a sort of wasteland for bonus, out-of-date coding that Sol Tech had never parted with. Ryouken even sees designs for past holiday celebrations. Fortunately, there isn't a glitch in sight. In recent years, Link Vrains has become one of the most secure online servers in the world.

"Does Zaizen  _ ever  _ get rid of anything?" Vyra comments with a soft chuckle. "There's junk coding here from years – no,  _ decades  _ – ago."

Would Den City be around here then? Perhaps Yuusaku's city is some obsolete, mystical world from a patch five years ago that was later discarded and brought to the edge of Link Vrains. But Ryouken discards that idea moments later. Yuusaku's world was different – vibrant, full of life and beauty. The people there weren't NPCs acting on some noob's coding – they were actual people and duelists.

Besides, as the path begins to wrap around the side of the lake, Ryouken sees that there's an entirely new world awaiting him. The road becomes more rocky and bumpy, and the three of them bounce up and down in the car. Vyra refuses to slow down even when Spectre complains that he's going to be sick, and she only stops when she sees a little signboard jammed into a dusty patch of ground.

"There!"

The car veers sharply to the side, and Ryouken falls to the side from the impact. The tires screech for a moment as the car stops, and when at last the vehicle is parked, Ryouken carefully pulls himself away from the others and wriggles out from between them. He climbs over the back of the car and to the sign. Parts of the writing have been faded away, as if this sign has been here since the beginning of time, but the design looks like it was meant to appear old.

"An old quest?" Vyra asks, coming to stand up next to him.

Ryouken shrugs. When Link Vrains first came out, there were many RPG elements adapted into the PVP dueling environment. Sol Tech had envisioned Link Vrains as a multiplayer dueling hub that wouldn't just be for one-on-one matches but for connection and co-operation among duelists far and near. Quests, dungeons, and other RPG elements had been early tactics to create alliances and friendships between new duelists. Nowadays, Link Vrains has established itself as a proper city with schools and offices, and so it no longer needs team-player activities.

Ryouken still remembers questing with Spectre though, and he shudders.

"Ey," Spectre bellows, looping an arm around Ryouken's shoulders. "Remember our group battles? Our questing –"

"No," Ryouken says with a strong shake of his head. He shrugs out of Spectre's grip and leans closer to read the sign. There's information about this area of Link Vrains, cautioning duelists not to head out alone and to be careful wandering through an obsolete area of the world. Ryouken knows the risks: sometimes there are glitches in the system that can harm players, especially those connected to VR tech. But Ryouken hasn't heard of any fatal glitches for years – even the last minor glitch, the disappearance of Stardust Road, didn't affect a single duelist.

Out in the distance, Ryouken sees more and more trees and grass and mountains, but none of it looks familiar ... or at least, none of it looks like Den City. There were trees and grass where Yuusaku lived too, but what's missing are the people. Ryouken wishes he got Naoki or Aoi's contact information so he could try to call them too, but considering how he wasn't even able to call Yuusaku it's unlikely that he'll be able to message anyone else in Den City.

"You looking for someone?" Spectre asks. "Because as far as I can see, we're the only ones out here."

"Hush," Vyra says to him, and then turns to Ryouken. "Can I see those drawings once more? I want to compare something."

Ryouken loads up the sketches he made, and using the holographic technology of his duel disk, projects them so that all three of them can see. He manipulates the images with his fingers, dragging them through the air and comparing them to various shots of the landscape. They aren't all the way on the other side yet, but even some of Ryouken's panshots of Den City don't match up with the overall landscape in Link Vrains.

"You sure a place like this exists?" Spectre asks.

"Yes," Ryouken grounds out. He glances around once more, and then closes the images and stomps back to the car. Without a word, Spectre and Vyra follow him, and once more the three of them take off down the windy, bumpy road around the water. Squished between Vyra and Spectre, Ryouken can't open up the drawings he made of Den City, but he remembers many of the details and searches for them across the horizon.

At noon, the other side of Stardust Road comes into view. The road curves to the side and then back out, and as the car turns, Ryouken waits in anticipation for Den City on the other side. But when he stares out in the world before him, all he sees are more trees and mountains bordering the coast. There isn't a city or village in sight, and for the entire trip to the other side of Stardust Road Ryouken hasn't seen another duelist.

He swallows thickly. Why ... why is no one here? Where is Den City? Where is Yuusaku, and Kusanagi's hotdog truck, and Aoi and Naoki, and all the other wonderful things of Den City? Where is any of it? All Ryouken sees are trees and mountains. As far as Ryouken is aware, there has never been anything beyond Link Vrains, but now he begins to wonder if Yuusaku is from another world, perhaps an alternate reality –

"Are we lost?" Spectre says, loud enough to ring in Ryouken's ears.

"No," he growls out. "No, this is the right place."

"I sure don't see anything."

Ryouken growls again. He pulls up the sketches and compares them to the world he sees. They aren't a similar match, but – but where else could Den City be? Where else could Yuusaku be?

"Maybe we should ask for directions," Vyra says.

"No." Ryouken spits the word out as if it’s poison on his tongue. "No, we're not asking for directions."

"Well maybe we should at least  _ look  _ for directions then – go somewhere and just eavesdrop on someone." She presses a hand into her cheek, gazing around. "If we could find someone, that is ... What is this place, Zaizen's computer's recycle bin?"

It can't be. No, this is where Yuusaku is supposed to be with all his friends. He was supposed to be online too, and dueling – so what happened? The more Ryouken thinks, the more his head begins to buzz, and the more his palms begin to sweat. He's not normally an anxious person but he can't help but feel unsettled by the utter hopelessness of the situation. He wishes Vyra and Spectre weren't around either as neither of them are helpful in this situation.

With a growl, Ryouken pushes at Vyra's hips. "Move."

"What?"

"Move. I'll drive."

"You'll – Revolver, you don't even have your license!"

"That doesn't matter." He gives her another shove, and this time she opens the door and tumbles out. Ryouken slides across the leather seats and motions for her to go back in. She doesn't though, bracing herself against the door with her lip pinched between her white teeth. She doesn't look particularly scared, or startled, but more or less surprised.

"In," Ryouken says, tilting his head towards the car. Then he clears his throat and adds, "I think I know where to go."

"And you can't just give me directions?" Vyra says, but she slides across the seat, giving Spectre a quick shove to move him onto his own seat. Revolver climbs in with her and slams the door closed. He flexes his hands on the steering wheel; though he's never driven before, he imagines it's just like manoeuvring a D-Board: drive, turn, stop.

He presses his food loudly on the gas and the engine roars to life – as does the car, suddenly shooting forward. Ryouken swallows a gasp and adjusts his grip on the wheel as he narrowly avoids a post in the ground. He drives the car back onto the pavement and eases off the gas, feeling his heart slowly settle in his chest. He doesn't dare look at the glances of Spectre and Vyra; no doubt they're smirking at him.

"I know where to go," Ryouken tells them, tightening his grip on the wheel.

_ Only I know where Yuusaku is. Only I can find him because I'm the only one that's met him ... and I'm the only one who's important to him. _

_ Three things. Remember, three things: three reasons to find Yuusaku. _

_ One: something might have happened to him and I want to help. _

_ Two: I want to duel him. _

_ Three: I want to see him again. _


	11. eleven。

Three hours.

Three fucking hours.

Ryouken drives far and wide and all along the desolate land, but he doesn't see a single city. He sees the same damn dueling shop and he grimaces every single time; Vyra has been suggesting he go inside and ask for directions from the shop owners for the past hour now, but Ryouken hates asking for directions from strangers when he can  _ easily  _ find his own way. He's not lost at all, and besides even if he is so is everyone else.

But the more he drives, the angrier he feels. He cuts corners so sharply that the car nearly flips, and he and Vyra and Spectre all tumble on top of each other. More than once they've had to pull over so Spectre can be a sick, and by the looks of his ashen face, he's only a couple of minutes away from being sick again. Next to him, Vyra rubs his back consolingly.

Ryouken tries to ignore both of them. He sees the same Stardust Road, only it looks bleaker at this angle, as if Ryouken needs to visit Yuusaku on a cold, clear night when the moon is positioned just right and all the dimensions are lined up and in sync. Is that what it takes to find Yuusaku? Some mysterious phenomenon? Ryouken thought it would be easy – just find Den City and then find Yuusaku. Wasn't the body-swapping part supposed to be the brain teaser? But now Ryouken just feels like he's spinning in circles – physically and metaphorically – and it only makes him more upset that there isn't a single clue out here for him.

"Ryouken, please pull over," Vyra says.

He slams on the breaks so hard that all three of them are thrown forward, their seat belts locking and cutting into their chests. On the other side of the car, Spectre gives a weak, strangled moan. With shaking hands he unlocks his seatbelt and lurches over the car, panting until he begins to heave. Vyra rubs his back, but her eyes remain fixed on Ryouken.

"What?" Ryouken says with a shrug. "Not my fault he's got such a weak stomach."

"We are going in  _ circles,"  _ Vyra says. "Let's go inside and talk to the store owner. If Den City does exist, someone out here has a better chance of knowing about it than us city folk."

"You go," Ryouken growls out – and then gasps as Vyra's hand connects with his head twice.

"Bang, bang," she says. "Snap out of it. This is something that has had you down for a while, and none of us are giving up on you. But if you're throwing yourself a pity party, at the very least get out of the car."

Ryouken shuffles his feet. He doesn't really want to look for Yuusaku on his own either. Sure, it might be quieter, but he needs the convertible to get home. That's the only reason Spectre and Vyra are here, after all. But then Ryouken sighs through his teeth, the sound whistling in the arid air.

"You go talk to them, and if they have anything useful to say, I'll listen."

Vyra sighs, much more noisily than him, but Ryouken sees a glimmer of a smile tucked in the corner of her mouth. "You're impossibly stubborn, you know that?"

"A real asshole," Spectre mutters over the side of the car, spitting onto the ground.

"Takes one to know one," Ryouken says. He starts up the car and drives, this time not out into the middle of nowhere, but just off the to the side. Stuck in the ground is a little hole-in-the-wall shack that looks far too shady to be a trading card shop. Ryouken isn’t even sure why such a place would be out here – who would even drive out here for cards? Ryouken doesn't bother to go inside; he parks in front of the store and then hops out and leans against the side of the building, under the shade of its large canopy.

Vyra takes one look at him and shrugs. "Suit yourself. I'll be back."

Spectre just punches his shoulder and says, "Bang, bang."

The shop door closes with a soft trill, and then Ryouken is by himself. He shoves his hands into his pockets and leans his head against the chipping cement of the building. As far as Ryouken can see extends the wasteland – no trees, no shrubs, nothing. And even further back, just a line of blue from this angle, is the sea. It looks so sad and lonely, as if no one has ever come here to see Stardust Road from this angle. Ryouken always thought the other side would be a beautiful, familiar place – the sort of area he remembers from living Yuusaku's life. However, the other side of Stardust Road, at least here, just looks like a cheap rip-off.

It almost looks so sad that Ryouken wants to take a picture of it.  _ Remember the day that your dreams all fell apart,  _ or some sad note like that.

Chuckling, Ryouken pulls out his duel disk and opens the camera app. He holds up the disk, adjusting the lens so that it can capture the barren world and the small sanctuary of blue, but then his eyes catch something in the corner of his vision – another picture. Ryouken rarely takes photos on his duel disk; he much prefers writing or drawing, and there isn't much Ryouken wants to keep digitally.

Only it's not a photo Ryouken has ever taken. Of course it isn't. It's a picture of a bento box filled with little hotdogs and cheese slices and vegetables, all arranged neatly in the shape of various animals. It's the sort of lunch Ryouken has seen before at Spectre's favourite cafe – surprisingly, these ingredients look a little more "edible" than what Spectre has tried to get him to eat, but Ryouken still recognises the packaging.

_ I didn't eat this,  _ Ryouken thinks.

He sees another picture in the display window.

Another picture of food, this one of large, cherry lollipops that Ryouken has seen sold at the train station he visits when he heads to school. Never one has Ryouken bought anything there. But in the corner of the photo is what appears to be his hand, and if the image was taken with his duel disk, then ...

Yuusaku.

With a small gasp, Ryouken switches to the next photo, and the next, and then the one after. He finds hundreds of photos on his duel disk, all shots of food or sunsets or Stardust Road or even his house. There's no commentary, no information about these photos, but as Ryouken stares at them, he begins to remember the little notes Yuusaku left him.

A shot of a large block of coding stretching across several screens.

The dueling arena where Ryouken works, with a close-up on the lobby.

His school.

But then there's shots of just regular old places like libraries and museums, and images of the pixelated dueling pathway weaving in between the skyscrapers. Normally, Ryouken wouldn't spare these places a second glance, but today he finds himself enraptured by the detail of the photographs. It's as if he's looking through Yuusaku's eyes and seeing Link Vrains through a newer, more beautiful lens. Everything looks better too. The images make Ryouken long for a lunch out with Spectre, or a duel with Vyra. He thinks about riding the subway all across the city, or about staying out by the boardwalk and slowly watching the stars fall into the water.

There are images of places Ryouken never knew Yuusaku went to, such as the local museum filled with old artefacts about Link Vrains' history and its early conception and creation. There are pictures of bills, of homework, of anything and everything Yuusaku seemed to be able to get his hands on.

_ So this is how you lived my life,  _ Ryouken thinks.  _ I wish I could have talked to you more, Yuusaku, but this ... this feels like enough. This feels like you. I wish ... I could have seen the same sights as you. I wish Link Vrains looked as wonderful as you thought it did. _

At the end of the camera roll, and one of the first pictures Yuusaku must have taken, is a shot of Stardust Road outside of Ryouken's window. Ryouken has seen this particular sight a million times, but through Yuusaku's eyes the view is even more incredible.The sea is painted with starlight, milky colours threaded through the atoms of the water. A new reflection appears every time the water moves.

And in the reflection of the window too, Ryouken sees someone else – him ... only not him. Yuusaku wears his face differently. He looks like a child on Christmas Day, his eyes alight with the moon and stars. His soft skin glows from the starlight, and he has one hand pressed to the glass, as if he were trying to reach out across the water.

_ So that's what you look like as me, Yuusaku. _

_ I wish I could have met you, Yuusaku. I wish you didn't disappear – _

"Revolver!"

Ryouken lifts his head, startled from his musing. "H –"

"Show them the photo!" Vyra reaches out for his duel disk, and instinctively Ryouken pulls it to his chest. What images? Wait, did Vyra and Spectre see Yuusaku's photos? None of those are particularly private, but Ryouken still pulls the duel disk into himself. Those – those were personal –

"The sketches," Spectre says.

_ Oh. _

Ryouken looks up and narrows his eyes at the new figure. He didn't see her come through the doorway with Vyra and Spectre, but now she stands in front of him, hands folded neatly before herself. She looks like a goody-two shoes, the kind of girl who would give it her all just because that's the nice thing to do. She has curly brown hair in pigtails, and she wears a crisp business suit. She looks overdressed for her job too, as if she should be working in an office instead of a run-down dueling shop.

"Hello," she says, and dips her head forward. "I'm Hayami. Your friends said you were looking for ..."

She leaves the question hanging, as if she doesn't want to say the words even though she pulled her lips back to say "Den City."

Ryouken doesn't answer it for her. He switches tabs on his duel disk and brings up the rough sketches he drew of his memories of Den City. Hayami doesn't reach out to take them, and she waits for him to flick through the different images, and afterwards to put them in a panorama for her. Her little nose scrunches up and down as she analyses the photos, and though Ryouken has no clue what she is thinking about, eventually she steps back.

"That's a beautiful drawing," she says. Her smile looks too warm and genuine, albeit a bit sad, and Ryouken shrugs off her comment.

“Sure," he says. He thought she might say something more important, maybe something about where Den City actually is.

Hayami taps her fingers to the pictures. "Yes, wow – you captured all the details. I'm interested where you've seen this before, maybe at the big museum in the city centre –"

"I'm looking for this place, actually," Ryouken says, and while his cheeks begin to warm, he adds, "I'm on a trip right now and just stopping by. I'll be heading out there later."

There. He didn't ask for directions, but he gave enough information that if she offers some help he won't have to say that he  _ asked  _ for him.

However, Hayami's eyes grow as wide as teacups, glossy blue irises nearly overflowing with tears. She brings a hand to her lips, gasping softly. "But – but sir –"

Ryouken turns away. "Come on, let's go."

"Sir," Hayami says, and she grabs hold of his blazer jacket. Ryouken whirls around, ready to shake her off, when he hears her say something so loudly that it echoes all throughout the wasteland: "Den City disappeared."

"It –"

Hayami lets go with a gasp, and steps back, hugging herself as if she might fall apart. Like the comforting big sister, Vyra approaches and gently sets a hand on her shoulder. This only makes Hayami cry though, and she buries her face in her hands.

Meanwhile, Ryouken's throat has become as dry as a desert. He glances side to side, heart hammering in his chest. Disappeared? How could an entire city disappear? And how has he never heard about this before? Surely there'd be some –

The missing articles removed by Sol Tech.

Ryouken whips his head towards Hayami and takes a lurching step forward. "What happened?" he hisses.

"It – it was just a glitch," Hayami says through her hands. She shakes herself, leaning into Vyra's touch. "It was an accident by Sol Tech, an accidental error that – that when the duelists logged in, the virtual reality sent an electric shock through their bodies – and – and –"

Ryouken's throat closes up. He can picture the rest: the accidental deaths of thousands of duelists in Den City who unfortunately were affected by the malfunctioning dueling technology. But then that doesn't make sense – how could Sol Tech overlook that error? And how could it only happen to Den City? That makes no sense! How could all those unfortunate events come together to wreck the lives of so many duelists?

And Yuusaku. That day – that day that Yuusaku was going to log on and become and duelist, and he was going to have his freedom and anonymity and everything –

He  _ died? _

Ryouken feels something wet drop down on his cheek, and before he even realises what he's doing, he runs – fast, far, across the dirty land. He runs until his lungs burn for breath and his legs threaten to topple over, and then he leaps onto his D-Board and shoots through the air. He lies on his stomach, too weak to even stand. His throat burns like an angry fire – even his tears can't step his anger.

_ What the fuck?  _ he thinks.  _ What the actual fuck? That – that couldn't  have happened! Sol Tech would never be able to get away with that accident. How do you cover up genocide – _

The nose of the board catches on a raised piece of rock – a cliff, in fact – and Ryouken flies over his board, landing roughly on his back. He groans from the impact, coughing weakly. Everything hurts  _ more  _ now, and with a garbled growl he rolls to the side. He's made it to the water, fortunately, but the feeling of pain has only increased, encasing his body in a terrible shell.

In his blurry vision, Ryouken sees Stardust Road. It looks familiar too, as if he's stood up on this hill before, gazed out at the milky water, and –

He has. In Yuusaku's life, in his world with Kusanagi and AI, he went to this same hill. Behind him, Ryouken tries to picture the sprawling green hills and the winding roads that Kusanagi drove the hotdog van down. Ryouken remembers sitting in the passenger seat watching the beautiful scenery roll by him. Was this the same place then? Was this once ... Den City?

_ Once. Den City was outside of Link Vrains, a real-life world that was soon to be connected to an earlier model of Link Vrains. But the glitch – the catastrophe – _

_ It's all disappeared. _

Ryouken drops to his knees, eyes filled with tears.

"Yuusaku ..."

His duel disk buzzes against his arm. His throat leaps into his chest and he opens up the main screen, but instead of a message from his friends, or better yet a message from Yuusaku, instead ... his diary begins to disappear. The lettering pulses and fades, or turns to strange, undecipherable symbols, and then entire walls of text disappears. Ryouken's replies disappear too – of course, Yuusaku has only wrote a few words, but everything Ryouken has said too fades away.

"No ..."

Ryouken screams to the sky as he throws his duel disk off the hill and onto the ground, where it crashes and rattles several feet away. The holographic screen lights up though, and even from his spot on the hill, Ryouken sees the disappearing messages through his wet eyes. He tries to look away, but the sight has him so focused.

_ You're disappearing, Yuusaku. _

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryouken sees Hayami, Spectre, and Vyra running towards him, but he spares none of them a second glance. He plants himself on the ground, clothes covered in dust and dirt, and watches as his duel disk deletes every single entry he and Yuusaku wrote to each other. He doesn't even try to remember the messages – Ryouken already knows there will be no way to get them back.

He fists his fingers in the ground.

Get Yuusaku back.

A swallowed sob.

When Link Vrains was released in Den City, one of the last major cities to receive the virtual dueling technology, Yuusaku was among the thousands of duelists who was unfortunately killed in a glitch malfunction that stopped their hearts.

Yuusaku fucking died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's an up to every down ... right? (:


	12. twelve。

Eventually, Vyra and Spectre come looking for him, and by that point Ryouken has pulled himself off the ground and dusted himself off; there isn’t a single sign of his breakdown, not even a dash of red around his eyes or a slight shake of his shoulders. Ryouken bottles himself up and holds himself together, so that when his friends see him, all he gives them is a stiff nod before he marches past them.

“Hey!” Spectre says, spinning around. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Back home.”

“But –”

Spectre doesn’t get the rest of the words out. Though Ryouken doesn’t see anything, he hears the click-clack of footsteps behind him – two pairs too, meaning that Vyra must be leading Spectre along. On the walk back, Spectre grumbles and growls, and Vyra hushes him. Neither of them are quiet about their unease either.

Ryouken marches right back to the convertible and climbs inside. He doesn’t say a word as Spectre and Vyra slide in on either side of him, crushing him in the middle. He doesn’t say anything when Vyra starts up the car, or when Spectre stretches his arms behind the back of the seat. For the entire ride, Ryouken keeps his head forward and his teeth in his lip. If he moves, if he reacts, his guise will break.

That doesn’t mean that he likes it though. Ryouken hates unnerving silence, punctuated only by soft sighs and quiet moans. It’s the sort of useless white noise that makes Ryouken want to press his fingers into both of his friends’ heads and say “Bang, bang!” just to break the silence.

But he doesn’t.

He  _ can’t. _

He can’t even look to them to break the noise as both of them remain stiff and silent for what feels like hours. The car zips down the dirt pathway along the waterside. Though the beautiful, dappling lights of Stardust Road flicker in the corners of Ryouken’s eyes, glowing as brightly as they normally would, Ryouken feels like today they’re dimmer. Weaker. Like Sol Tech is saving energy by cutting out the useless special features of its virtual world.

_ All this time,  _ Ryouken thinks.  _ All this time, I never knew that someone died. But then … I must have. How could a secret so big be kept so hidden? _

Out of the corner of his eye, he glances towards Vyra. She’s older than him – maybe she learnt about this tragedy in school too, or perhaps she was alive when this happened. Come to think of it, how old was he when the accident occured? How old would Yuusaku be now?

_ How could I have met you?  _ Ryouken wonders.

Lightly, Vyra coughs into her fist. “That girl back there, Hayami … after you left, Revolver, she told me a bit about what happened.”

Ryouken shrugs a shoulder, jostling Vyra’s grip on the handle. She tightens her grasp, knuckles harsh and white in the moonlight, and continues: “She said she was working with Zaizen when it happened … and it was an accident. A truly honest accident brought on by the stress of completing Link Vrains in time for its grand unveiling, resulting in several important yet missed features bugging the system and backlashing against the new duelists.”

“That still kinda sounds like Zaizen’s fault,” Spectre says, kicking his legs up on the dashbox. “Like Sol Tech skipping a bunch of important steps isn’t anyone else’s fault but their own.”

Vyra huffs. “Still, there was a lot going on in the background. There was … the Hanois who were delaying the release in Den City too, claiming that virtual dueling was only going to wreck the minds of youth and submit humanity to the rule of AIs. Sol Technologies was spending so much of its time and resources dealing with the Hanois that it was struggling to release Link Vrains in a timely and orderly fashion … so it didn’t.”

“Again, still Sol Tech’s fault.” Spectre stretches his legs out further, placing his hands behind his head. Ryouken flicks his eyes towards him, but quickly looks back when Spectre catches his gaze and winks. “Sorry, but I’m not pitying Zaizen.”

“I’m not either,” Vyra says. “I’m just … I don’t think I know enough to make a decision, and I don’t think any of us do. We should … go look.”

“Where?” Spectre snorts. “It’s not like Sol Tech wants anyone to know that they ‘accidentally’ committed mass genocide?”

“At the museum.”

Ryouken raises an eyebrow. Yuusaku went to the museum too. He never told Ryouken about it, but if Yuusaku went there, he must have seen clues about Link Vrains, maybe even a hint about the unfortunate disaster that befell Den City.  It's worth a shot, at least. After all, technically Ryouken lived in Den City too. He might be able to spot something no one else could.

Vyra seems to take his silence as a 'yes,' for she begins driving the car not only back into Link Vrains but into the wide city centre. Soon the buildings hang over them and cast long, lonely shadows. Over Ryouken's head he sees duelists passing by. Yet as he heads into the city, Ryouken tries to see things ... differently. From another angle. He looks around at the buildings and offices and tries to imagine what Yuusaku saw when he headed in this area. Did he think it was too crowded here? Did he think there were too many people, or did he blend into the crowds?

When Vyra parks the car, Ryouken climbs out and wanders down the sidewalk. His body seems to know where to go, as if a ghost has possessed him and now leads him down a familiar path. Sure enough, Ryouken makes it to the museum: a great building made of glass and stone merged together in an artistic display. The doors whoosh open as they approach, and the first glance inside the building is of a vaulted ceiling and long open corridors. There's no lobby or waiting area or anything; they step right into the middle of a historical collection of technology and software.

Ryouken swallows thickly. He went here once, a long time ago, on a school field trip. That day, he'd only paid attention to the details he knew would be on the test; he hadn't cared much for anything else. Today though, everything lights up as if it might be important. As Vyra and Spectre peruse around the library, Ryouken walks at a snail's pace, staring at every map, every blueprint, every single piece of evidence of what might have happened in Den City.

At first, Ryouken sees nothing – no details about any mistakes. But then, in the corner of his vision, he sees a hallway extending into a room that looks, even from the sliver in the doorway, to be filled with books. Inside feels like a miniature library with bookshelves acting as walls. Tomes stretch up to the ceiling, crunched between each other in the small shelves. There must be a thousand books on each wall, and though Ryouken can't see any more book rooms from here, he ascertains that this can't be the only library in this museum.

_ Here ... huh?  _ he thinks.  _ Yuusaku, did you go here? _

Ryouken brings his finger up to stroke one of the spines of the books. It's an old encyclopedia detailing the early beginnings of Sol Tech and its predecessors. Ryouken doesn't care all that much for Sol Tech, in part because nowadays the company is more of a mega-corporation that controls a lot of smaller enterprises; Sol Tech isn't really one entity so much as some god-like company overseeing all of Link Vrains and more.

"In here?" Vyra says.

Ryouken startles and turns around. Vyra leans against the doorway, holding several books tightly to her chest.

"Here," she says after a moment, passing him one of the books. "Is this what you're looking for?"

_ Sol Tech successfully rescues Link Vrains duelists after unforeseen terrorist catastrophe. _

Ryouken raises an eyebrow. "This ... is it?"

"It's just a newspaper clipping, sadly, and it's written by a very biased author, but it's something ... right?" She glances from side to side, pulling her mouth into a little 'oh." "You found a lot more here, didn't you?"

"Hm," Ryouken says, too focused on the newspaper article. As Vyra said, it's highly biased and treating the disaster of Den City as a Hanoi problem and not as an accident on Sol Tech's part. However, as Ryouken glances through the paper, occasionally flicking his eyes up to the shelves, he sees more Sol Tech titles, including ...

_ Remember Den City: The Heroes and Victims of a Lost World _

The newspaper clipping slips from his fingers. That – that's –

Ryouken snatches it off the shelves, nearly tumbling backwards as he pries the book from between two other encyclopedias. He hastily begins flipping through it, looking for names, faces, anything. The book has pages upon pages of information and interviews with Sol Tech codebreakers and artists and managers all talking about how they can't believe this tragedy befell them.

"What's that?" Vyra asks, coming to stand next to him.

Ryouken doesn't move, doesn't speak, too focused on the pages to even blink or else this information might disappear too. He reads like his life depends on it, and he remembers every single word he sees:

_ On the grand unveiling on Link Vrains and Den City's access to the world-renowned virtual reality dueling technology program, a radical terrorist group called the Knights of Hanoi inadvertently caused a complication within the system's processing that electrocuted the minds of thousands of duelists connecting to the system. As these duelists had been waiting for months for this reveal, the complication resulted in a disastrous effect that took the lives of every duelist who connected within the first fifteen minutes of the program's release. By the time Sol Technologies shut down Link Vrains entirely, over one thousand duelists had been killed by electrocution to their central nervous systems. _

_ According to Sol Technologies' CEO of Security, Zaizen Akira, this result was wholly unforeseen but undoubtedly due to the increasing pressure from the Knights of Hanoi who had been protesting virtual technology and AI-assisted programming. _

_ Since then, Link Vrains has undergone numerous safety procedures and technical protocols that have prevented such a disaster from happening again. Listed in the back of this novel are the names of the duelists whose lives were lost to this unfortunate circumstance. _

Ryouken turns the pages so quickly that he nearly rips them apart. At the back of the book he finds the list – no pictures, just rows upon rows of names starting by family names. He flips too far, naturally, and so he sees Zaizen first.

Zaizen Aoi.

His stomach cramps painfully. Ryouken liked Aoi. She was calm and contemplative, and she knew when to speak and when to hold her tongue. She was a good duelist too.

_ Zaizen's own sister died,  _ Ryouken thinks grimly.

Further ahead in the book he sees Naoki, and Kusanagi. He remembers hearing Naoki talk animatedly about dueling, and he suspects that as a programmer Kusanagi probably was interested in examining Link Vrains too. Hot bile burns in the back of his throat with each page he turns. He knows Yuusaku's last name – Fujiki – and so he knows he'll reach the page, and he hopes with all his might that he doesn't see Yuusaku's name anywhere.

_ You must have lived, right? You couldn't have died? _

But Ryouken's eyes zone in on Yuusaku's name the moment he flips the page. He recognises those kanji, and through his burning eyes he imagines Yuusaku's face staring back at him. What would Yuusaku have looked like as a duelist? Would he have been wholly unrecognisable, or would he have appeared just like he does in Den City?

_ I'll never know,  _ Ryouken thinks to himself.  _ He's ... _

Vyra leans closer to him, pressing her finger over his. Ryouken realises that he's pointing right at Yuusaku's name, and before he can yank his hand back, she speaks up, "That's him?"

"That's  _ who?"  _ Spectre bellows, swinging around the corner. "Damn, this place is like a crypt –"

"Shut it," Ryouken says, slamming the book closed; Vyra pulls her hand away just in time. He hugs it to his chest, eyes sliding between Vyra and Spectre, both of them no longer surprised or smirking, but instead staring back at him with wide, hollow eyes. "Shut it."

"Fujiki ... Yuusaku," Vyra says. She rolls the words off her tongue like they're a foreign language, and Ryouken's cheeks heat up.

"That him? Your guy?" Spectre says. "Well, let's go –"

"Stop," Ryouken says. "Stop, just – stop." He glances back down at the book, at the cover ... at the date. There, scribbled underneath the title, is the year – and more specifically, a year in the past. Yuusaku hasn't just been dead since two days ago; he's been dead for –

"Three years ago," Vyra whispers. She tilts her head towards the book. "Revolver ... that happened three years ago –"

"I  _ know,"  _ he hisses. "I know, I know, I know." But he doesn't know – not about this or that or anything. The endlessly tall bookshelves make this room appear smaller and narrower, and the claustrophobic feeling clenches Ryouken's throat. He holds the book tightly in his arms, knowing that if he even lets go for a second it could disappear from him forever.

_ How could I have met you, Yuusaku? How did I meet you when not only do you live so far away, but you live in another timeline? You're in the past, living in a life when Link Vrains was older and hadn't been released in every city in every country in every part of the dimensions. So what happened – how does that even work – _

Ryouken sucks in a deep breath and marches out the door. He heads down the hallway, back into the main room, where, tucked between the various exhibits and doors leading into hallways, he spots the help desk. He doesn't even care who he talks to; with a low growl, Ryouken plunks the book down on the counter and says, "Where are there more books about Den City?"

The clerk raises her head. "I'm sorry, you mean the accident –"

"No," Ryouken snaps, "the city – Den City, before it disappeared, before anything happened. There must be files, pictures, newspaper clippings."

The clerk hums in the back of her throat, leaning back so that Ryouken isn't so close to her face. "Oh, I see. Um, one minute here ..."

Ryouken can't wait a minute, so he stuffs his hands in his blazer pockets and paces the room. Normally, he's rather cool and collected, but he feels like he has bugs crawling all over his skin, and his mind is spinning, and even if someone held his shoulders and sat him down Ryouken knows he wouldn't even feel a touch better and –

"Here –"

He snaps up and over the counter. The clerk holds out a small sticky note for him, and written on it is a series of call numbers.

"This is where you'll find some information. There isn't much on such a small town –"

Ryouken doesn't hear the rest of it. He storms off, heels clicking behind him. He heads down and around the library, into another room with even more shelves and books stretching up towards the heavens. This time, there are even tall ladders for reaching up into a the multi-story room. Ryouken ascends the ladder, clinging onto the rungs when he feels the wood begin to rattle.

Three-quarters of the way up the shelf, he finds exactly what he's looking for: yearbooks from Den City High School. The yearbooks are loaded onto little, portable holographic disks, so instead of flipping through the pages, Ryouken scrolls through walls and walls of text. He finds images of the familiar school with its great, green courtyard where students would duel one another. Then Ryouken sees the insides of the school, and festivals, and culture days, and images upon images of students. Most of them seem unfamiliar, but from time to time he sees Naoki.

However, there isn't a single image of Yuusaku until he reaches the duel club. There's only one page for the club, but there's a group shot of Yuusaku and Aoi and Naoki surrounded by some more unfamiliar faces. Yuusaku and Aoi aren't smiling; Yuusaku isn't even looking at the camera, his head bowed.

_ Shy, are we?  _ Ryouken thinks.

There's another image of him though, tinkering with his duel disk with such intent on his face. It looks like Yuusaku is relaxed for once; maybe not the expression Ryouken saw through the window when Yuusaku wore his body, but there's a flicker of starlight in Yuusaku's vision as he holds his ancient duel disk.

_ You didn't exist in a dream then, or in my imagination. You lived and breathed and dreamed – and I lived in your life too. _

With a soft smile, Ryouken leans back against the bookshelves and flips through the pages. He sees more and more shots of the schoolyard and the classrooms, and even if he doesn't see Yuusaku in them, he tries to imagine what he might have been doing at the same time? Was Yuusaku working in Kusanagi's hot dog van? Was he sitting out at the boardwalk watching the starry waters of Stardust Road?

Ryouken finds other books with pictures too: city-wide events and newspaper clippings. None of them feature Yuusaku, but the more Ryouken sees of the city, the more he thinks about Yuusaku and his life. Yuusaku doesn't need to be in the pictures for Ryouken to know that he was there too, maybe just on the outskirts but still alive.

"Hey."

He glances down to the floor where Vyra and Spectre stand, both of them mere specks. Ryouken feels like he's climbed up into the galaxies.

"Did you find anything?"

Ryouken shrugs, but he clasps the book tightly to his chest. He climbs down slowly from the ladder, and lands softly on the ground. Both Vyra and Spectre eye up the book as if it's food, and after a moment Ryouken opens it up to the page of the duel club gathered around together and the shot of Yuusaku tinkering with his duel disk.

"Who're they?" Spectre snorts.

"Him," Ryouken says. "That's ... him."

"Yuusaku?" Vyra says. She leans closer, tracing her finger along the photograph. She almost looks a bit surprised, and then she looks back up at Ryouken and smiles. "I've seen this expression on your face before, did you know that?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, when you were programming one day. You had your face so close to the screen I thought you were going blind, and your tongue was pinched between your teeth, and you looked so focused."

"And here," Spectre says, pointing to a shot of the duel club eating lunch together, their duel disks all on the table as if they've put their weapons up, "is a shot of you I remember. look, he's even got little weenies in his lunch too, just like that time you told me the food at the cafe was shit because they overcooked their meat."

Ryouken tilts his head to the side. "But ..."

"Whoever you've met," Vyra says to him, "made a really strong impact on you, Revolver. And I'm glad. I'm happy. Because, well ..." She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Despite everything we've learnt, I can see you smiling."

Ryouken presses a hand to his mouth, smushing back his lips – but he still feels it, the slight quirk and tuck of skin in the corners of his face that shouldn't have been there, not after everything that he's learnt. No, he shouldn't be smiling, or feeling flustered, or anything, but when he looks down at the photo, even if Yuusaku isn't smiling, Ryouken feels himself wanting to smile. Yuusaku looks ... happy. Not perfect, but happy, as if only starlight could really bring out his true feelings.

_ But you were alive back then,  _ Ryouken thinks to himself.  _ Back then, in Den City, you lived until that terrible event. _

And though Ryouken feels like his heart should sag to the floor, and after all the pain and sadness and worry, he takes a deep breath and glances down at the photo. There, held between his pale, shaking hands, is proof of Fujiki Yuusaku's life in Den City. Ryouken really did swap bodies then with a boy leagues away in an alternate life.


	13. thirteen。

Ryouken spends all day in the library reading books about Den City. To his surprise, there’s more literature than he thought there would be about a city that was supposedly destroyed from a computer malfunction caused by Sol Technologies. On the internet, the news seems to be mysteriously covered up; but here in the library is more than enough literature – biased as it is – covering all aspects of the city prior to and after its tragic ending.

And Ryouken reads it all as if he doesn’t have enough time in the world to finish. He carries stacks upon stacks of books or e-readers down the ladder and to a cosy nook made of pillows and lit by soft, yellow lamps. Sometimes he doesn’t even make it off the ladder, and he perches himself on the rungs. 

He reads, always looking for more clues, more information, more pictures. Since Yuusaku was never an outstanding citizen in Den City, there isn’t much information about him specifically, but even if Ryouken can’t see him, he imagines the life Yuusaku must have led: the roads he walked down, the shops he visited, the parks he slept in. On festival days he sees the Cafe Nagi hot dog truck and he squints to see if Yuusaku is cooking weenies inside. When there are pictures of Den City High School, Ryouken counts the windows to try and find Yuusaku’s classroom.

But while the reading is meagre and doesn’t offer the same snapshots, the more Ryouken reads, the more he truly believes he did swap bodies with Yuusaku and live in Den City. At one point, he thought he might have been dreaming, or perhaps even experiencing deja vu of his past lives – but the more Ryouken sees of Den City, the more he realises that he’s been there before, in Yuusaku’s flesh and living his life.

And that just doesn’t make sense.

As the sun crosses the sky into the hazy evening, Vyra and Spectre head off to find food. Ryouken stays; his mind is in too many places to care about dinner.

_ Can you really swap bodies with someone?  _ Ryouken thinks.  _ Just like that – do humans really possess that power? And if I wanted to, could I swap with anyone? What makes Yuusaku and I special? Is it fate that has drawn us together … or a mistake? _

_ A death. Can I only live Yuusaku’s life because he died? _

Heaving himself up the ladder, Ryouken returns to search for more literature. He must have read half of the library’s works on Den City already, but this time Yuusaku finds information about the culture of Den City, of a flourishing city that grew to become a dueling hub thanks to its connections with Sol Technologies and local resident Zaizen Akira. Whenever Ryouken sees Akira, his stomach twists in knots. How much did Akira know back then? Did he know releasing Link Vrians prior to its security tests would result in an act of genocide that would wipe out over a thousand duelists?

“Hey.”

Ryouken pushes his face further into the book. He hears someone below him, but unless it’s the librarian asking him to leave – and it doesn’t sound like her – Ryouken doesn’t plan on climbing down anytime soon.

“Hey,” Vyra says, louder this time. “Come down, I have snacks.”

“Not hungry.”

“I’ll throw them up to you then. Catch.”

A rice ball shoots up beside him before it arcs back down towards the ground. Ryouken flicks his eyes towards it, but he doesn’t move. A moment later a package of crackers whizzes by him too, and this time Ryouken does move – not to reach out to it, but to stare down at Vyra –

_ Smack! _

Another rice ball hits him in the cheek. He stumbles back against the shelves, grappling onto the ladder so that he doesn’t tumble right off and land the fifteen or so feet below onto the cold, hard ground. He sees Vyra down there though, her hands filled with small snacks that she continues to toss at him. With both of his hands holding tight to the ladder, Ryouken can only growl deep in his throat and roll his eyes at her inanity.

“Really?”

“Get down here and eat something, Revolver.”

Ryouken narrows his eyes. Even from this distance, he can see that she’s gone shopping with Spectre to his weird health food stores, and most of the items in her hands look … alien. Like humans should never have tried eating such foods.

“I’m not eating that.”

“Stop whining and get down here.”

He settles back against the ladder.

Vyra throws a rice ball at his shoulder. It stings upon impact, and Ryouken tenderly massages the area. Vyra’s aim is too good and too strong, and when she tosses another item at him, Ryouken quickly shimmies down the ladder and lands with a dull  _ thud!  _ on the carpeted floor. He crosses his arms and glares at her, one eyebrow quirked up into his silver hairline.

“You’re kidding me.”

“Three things,” she says, holding out the items. “You’ve got to like something –”

“Three …” Ryouken swallows. “What?”

“I said, I’ve got three different choices for you because I have no clue what you eat or like, and I wasn’t about to trust your friend’s judgment –”

“No,” Ryouken interrupts. “No, what did you say before?”

“Three … things?”

“Someone has said that to me before, or I’ve said it to them, or we’ve said it to each other.” The words slur out of his lips, and before Vyra has a chance to ask him,  _ what?,  _ Ryouken brushes past her and into the lobby. He keeps walking, his feet slapping the tiles. He heads to the front desk where there are stacks upon stacks of books he’s returned and have yet to be shelved, and he holds out his hand to the librarian.

“I need those.”

The young man at the desk raises an eyebrow. “You need … all of them?”

“Yes,” Ryouken says. “Every single one. Now.” 

With a thick swallow, the librarian pushes the books back to him. Ryouken snatches them all up, one towering handful in each arm, and carries them back into the room. Vyra waits in the doorway with her wide eyes glowing in the light. Ryouken doesn’t say anything to her.He squeezes through the door and drops the books to the ground. None of the titles stick out, nor do the pictures, but suddenly Ryouken has an idea, a theory.

_ Three things – who said that to me? What does that mean? _

He begins flipping through the book, looking for anything to do with threes: three pictures, three people, three buildings. At first, Ryouken doesn’t see anything. There are pictures of the school, and of Sol Technologies, and of Den City in general, but what do all those scenes matter for? But then Ryouken begins to count them: three pictures on one page, or three people standing together. Everything is in a group of three, and the more the pattern emerges, the more Ryouken begins rapidly flipping through the books.

Vyra crouches down next to him, tucking her chin into the space between her knees. “What are you doing, Revolver?”

“Three things,” Revolver says through his teeth. “Someone told me to always look for three things, always remember three things. It’s not just a saying – it’s a pattern. Look, here!” He pushes the book towards her and jabs a picture at a photo in the middle. It’s a shot of Akira, Aoi, and another woman with long, pink and grey hair sprouting from the top of her head in cyclone-like spears. 

“Who is that?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Ryouken says. “But here too – another shot of three people, of three buildings –”

“Those are coincidences, Revolver –”

“They  _ aren’t,”  _ he hisses through his teeth. He lifts his head and narrows his eyes at her, and though he tries to keep himself together, he feels his breath clench in his chest. “Everything about Den City has to do with threes. And – and Yuusaku – he used to say –”

_ Three things. _

Vyra’s teeth sink into her lip. “I really don’t get where you’re going with this,” she says under her breath.

“You don’t have to,” Ryouken says back, returning to the papers. “Someone told me, or I told them, that whenever you’re lost, whenever your mind is wandering, to always remember three things. And so that’s what I’m going to do too. If I’m going to find Yuusaku, or figure out whatever the fuck is happening here, I’m going to look for three things.” Ryouken takes a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth, and then whispers, more to himself than anyone else, “Three reasons to find Yuusaku: one, I want to find out why we’ve lived each other’s lives; two, I want uncover more of the mysteries surrounding Link Vrains and Den City; and three, if I can go back in time, if I can see Yuusaku one more time, I want to make sure he lives.”

Ryouken flips the page to the book. There, sparkling across the glossy pages, is Stardust Road. He’s seen it time and time before, both in his life and in Yuusaku’s. Something about this view strikes Ryouken as familiar though. When he went to the remains of Den City, or whatever Akira wants to call that dump of old data and coding from the disaster of Den City, he barely saw the stars. But this sight looks beautiful, and vaguely familiar too.

_ I’ve seen this same sight … outside of my own window. _

He slams the book closed and shoves it back into the pile. Quickly, Ryouken heaves them and brings them back to the counter, where the increasingly-harried librarian only gives him a small sigh as he leaves all the books towering on the shelf.

“Revolver. Revolver, where are you –”

He doesn’t hear the rest of the words. Ryouken runs as fast as he can through the city, heart pounding in his chest. He hears his footsteps echo in his ears: one, two, three; to the sound of his heartbeat, one, two three. The rhythm never ends, and the more he sees, the more he hears, the more he notices the pattern.

Three people.

Three places.

Three friends.

Three memories.

You, me, and us.

_ Yuusaku, I’m coming. _

* * *

_ “You really think we’ll get customers out here?” AI says with a smirk. _

_ Kusanagi chuckles. “Maybe those lovey-dovey couples going out for a stroll.” _

_ Yuusaku dips his head down. It was a good idea, or so he thinks. The boardwalk along Stardust Road is beautiful year-round, and though the wind is chilly the later at night it becomes, when the sun hits the water the entire street warms up with a gentle, orange glow that slowly fades into moonlight and black water. _

_ It was Yuusaku’s idea to bring the Cafe Nagi hot dog truck out to Stardust Road – not only so that he could see it at all times, but also so that other people might experience it too. It wasn't a wholly selfish decision, but Kusanagi and AI both act like it was as they glance around the road with frowns and narrowed eyes. _

_ “If I could frown, I would,” AI says. “Really, Mr. Playmaker? This is your grand idea?” _

_ “There will be people; you’ll see.” _

_ And there are – not many, and certainly not enough to truly convince Kusanagi that this will be a hit spot to park his truck, but Yuusaku dreams of sitting on little lawn close to Stardust Road where he can gaze out at the softly-churning waters. He doesn’t even like people, but maybe if there was something for them to pay attention to they’d stop talking to him and mind their own business. Maybe if they had a purpose they would come here and eat and chat, and Yuusaku would go elsewhere along Stardust Road and sit by himself. _

_ To his side, Kusanagi surveys the area with keen, glimmering eyes. He doesn’t say anything to Yuusaku, or to AI when he starts prattling on and on about how this is the worst place for business and they’re much better off heading to the city centre. Thoughtfully, Kusanagi rubs his hair chin. Then he sighs. _

_ “It’ll do.” _

_ “It’ll – it’ll what?” AI gasps. “You can’t be serious?” _

_ “I am,” Kusanagi says. He claps his hands together and turns back to the shop. “Chop, chop, you two – let’s set up the tables.” _

_ Silently, Yuusaku cheers for himself. He heads inside the truck with Kusanagi and returns with little, metal tables and chairs to set up around the truck. He helps unroll the awning and arrange the area, and later on Yuusaku travels around the nearby streets, sticking up posters of Cafe Nagi’s new location. All the while, AI grumbles on his shoulder about how unfair it all is, and how they’re going to go bankrupt all because of a pretty view. _

_ “Three things,” Yuusaku says to AI, who balances on his shoulder with his little face cupped in his round hands. _

_ “Three what?” _

_ “Three things,” Yuusaku repeats, “or three reasons why this will work: one, Stardust Road is just off of the main street; two, Cafe Nagi is popular enough that most customers will travel for it; and three, beauty attracts more people.” _

_ “I don’t even think there’s Internet out here,” AI grumbles. _

_ “There is,” Yuusaku says. He can see the little service bar in the corner of his duel disk’s screen. Throughout the day, Yuusaku has been taking photos of Cafe Nagi and Stardust Road. He doesn’t share the photos with anyone else, but late at night when he tries to fall asleep, sometimes Yuusaku flicks through his old photos and remembers his days. In photographs, the world looks a little bit different: smaller, more manageable, and prettier.  _

_ In the corner of his vision, Yuusaku sees the sunlight begin to drip into the water. Slowly, the light fades away into shadows, and the waters darken to an inky, opaque black that will soon be dappled with small stars. Just before that change, Yuusaku turns around and snaps a photo. He hopes, someday, someone else will see the same sight as him … and maybe they already do see it, perhaps just in a different light. _

_ When the posters are hung up, Yuusaku wanders back down to the boardwalk and peers into the water. Before the moonlight transforms it into a galaxy, and after the first drips of light have touched it, Yuusaku can see his reflection gazing back at him. AI sits on his shoulder too, though his black form blends into the water. Yuusaku can see himself clearly – him and his vacant expression. _

_ Carefully, Yuusaku presses a finger into the corner of his lips and pulls it up. He doesn’t smile often, so the face he makes just looks weird, but he stands there, hanging over the edge, and stares back at his reflection. _

Is that really me?

_ Then he pulls out his duel disk and snaps a photo of himself, of the strange figure gazing back at him through the dark waters. When the flash goes off, the light remains. Yuusaku blinks once, twice, thrice, but the flash still shimmers in his irises. Then he lifts his head and sees that the light has returned, dappling the once-dark waters with a beautiful, milky glow. Stardust Road has appeared before his eyes. _

_ On his shoulder, AI gasps loudly. “This – this, Mr. Playmaker! This is why you wanted to be here.” _

_ Yuusaku doesn’t respond, his entire being too captivated by the sight of the stars on the water. The light extends across the sea like a starry path, and though Yuusaku isn’t quite so star-struck that he’d consider walking across the water, he imagines what it might be little at the centre of that path, or on the other side of the water. What does it look like out there? _

_ “Mr. Playmaker, go get Kusanagi! Go get him! He needs to see this – this, right now!” AI keeps tugging on Yuusaku’s shirt collar, and eventually he gives up and goes dashing into the van. Yuusaku leaves him, though distantly he hears AI shouting, “We could make so much money off of this!” and Kusanagi telling him, “If you yell in someone’s ear, they’ll rip out your programming. Just saying.” _

_ Then Yuusaku hears nothing but the roar of the waves, and the howl of the wind over the water. _

_ “Three things,” Yuusaku whispers to himself. “Someone once told me … to always remember three things.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't thank y'all enough for all the love and support! also i wanted to let you know that i have decided on my next vrains crossover, but i'm going to keep it a secret! it's currently "in the works" and probably won't be out until at least after i'm done school in mid-July. i'm very excited to share it though! ^^


	14. fourteen。

Ryouken rides his board as if it has sprouted wings. He zips past duelists; beneath him, the city blurs together as one indistinguishable place. It doesn’t matter what the world looks like anymore – no, Ryouken has his eyes set on the sea before him, and the beautiful stars that have dropped into the milky waters. He sees it even when he turns his head, but he knows that it has to be somewhere specific, somewhere that he’s seen before.

As his board nears his house, Ryouken crouches low. However, before he gets to the door he veers off to the side and drops down onto the soft, dewy ground. His feet slide over the wet grass, and even when he raises his arms out on either side of him, he feels like the ground could give out beneath him and drag him to the bottom of the world.

Carefully, Ryouken heads towards the edge of the cliff and gazes down below. He’s always been looking ahead, at the vast unknown, but now that he’s gazing at  _ his  _ end of the lake, Ryouken sees that the water churns and bubbles against the rocks. It looks far stormier than the gentle, lapping waves that he sees far out in the sea. But it doesn’t scare him – not the sea, not the unknowing.

He crouches down and dangles his legs over the edge, heels kicking the damp rocks. It must have rained recently or at the night the waves must have crashed this far up the cliffside. 

Bracing his hands behind him, Ryouken lowers himself down. He feels the wind catch on his jacket, and his hands slip and fumble against the wet grass. Before he’s even an inch down, he yanks himself right back up and stumbles back. His breath comes in harsh, angry pants.

The bottom sure is a lot further down than he once thought.

Flipping over, Ryouken wiggles himself back to the edge and slowly guides his feet down to the cliff. His toes cling to the bare outcroppings of the rock wall. It feels like he has no grip at all, and the further he descends, the tighter his chest feels. He thinks about bringing his D-Board down here, but then what would happen if a wave crashed against him, or a strong gust of wind knocked him into the cliffside? It feels much safer to crawl down the rock wall, but not by much.

In due time though, he makes it far enough down that he can hang by his hands. The rock wall, while slightly damp, proves to be less slippery than he originally thought, and so his feet and hands find strong holds that help him maintain his balance. With all of his life, Ryouken tightens his core muscles so that he can hold himself flush to the rock wall.

Beneath him, the dark, moonlit waters churn.

Bit by bit, Ryouken begins to descend the cliffside. Beneath his house are a cluster of rocks that remind Ryouken of the same cliff he once climbed in Yuusaku’s body. It’s not perfect, and it’s not the same place, but something seems too familiar about that spot.

To get there though proves as difficult as he expected. By the time Ryouken’s feet safely touch the first of the rock-spires, his muscles are screaming. His core muscles burn, and he coughs weakly as he begins to descend down the rock spires. While obsidian-black and much more slippery than the cliffside, they remind Ryouken of a series of stairs that eventually plateau five or so feet above the water.

If a big wave came, he’d be swept away by the current.

Using his hands to keep his balance, Ryouken follows the steps down to the plateau. More than once his legs slide out on either side of him and he falls on his bottom. Eventually, he gives up climbing and crawls across the rocks.

_ Three things,  _ he tells himself.  _ Look for the pattern, look for the similarities. You’ve been here before, or close to here – _

_ Don’t you remember me, Revolver? _

Ryouken blinks. For a second, he sees pink and blue and gold, and he swings his head wildly from side to side. But whoever spoke to him has disappeared, and so have the colours; instead, they’re replaced by the dazzling panorama of Stardust Road. From this angle, Ryouken feels even closer to the magnificent beauty. He’s so close to the water that he can stretch his hands down and touch it, and the milky lake rubs away the dirt and sand that have clung to his fingers from the treacherous climb.

“This is it,” Ryouken says with a breath. He brings his other hand into the water, noting the spectral swirls. It almost looks like a death trap, or a passageway into the spirit realm. 

Then he releases his hand and presses his foot on the water – not through, it, but on it, as if he were to walk on the water itself.

His foot doesn’t go through.

Holding his breath, Ryouken tries using his other foot. Once more, his foot doesn’t go through. But he leaves his feet still, so worried that if he even moves an inch, or presses to hard, glass will shatter beneath his feet and he’ll plunge into the starry depths.

He doesn’t slip off.

Bracing his arms once more, Ryouken gives himself a slight push, watching to see if the water breaks, hearing for any snaps of resistance before he falls. But nothing happens, and before he knows it, he’s standing on Stardust Road. Ahead of him is the milky path stretching out towards the moon, and on either side of him is bleeding moonlight and starlight. There are entire galaxies beneath his shaking boots.

Something flickers on Ryouken’s body, and he jumps, startled – but then he sees his white jumpsuit, Revolver’s outfit minus the helmet. Ryouken gazes down at his figure, flexing his fingers.

_ How did that … even happen? _

He doesn’t even have a clue.

With a thick swallow, Ryouken begins to take small, measured steps out across the water. He holds his arms out for balance, and tries to walk in as straight of a line as he can, but even when his toes turn too far out, or he feels like he’s veered off the wide path, he doesn’t fall into the sea. The sick feeling never leaves his stomach, but the further he walks, the more he begins to see of Stardust Road. Out here, he’s the only one in sight, but he doesn’t feel alone. He hears the wind over the water and it sounds like a merry whistle; elsewhere, it sounds like someone is whispering a lullaby in a silky voice.

And ahead of him, Stardust Road begins to look even more familiar. The world becomes clearer than it ever has, and though the path grows brighter, the moonlight forcing him to squint his eyes or stare down at his feet, Ryouken keeps on walking, never deterring from his original path. When he looks over his shoulder, he sees just how far he’s walked – he’s halfway across the sea by this point, and ahead of …

Land.

Ryouken sees the face of another cliff. He starts running towards it, hands outstretched, feet kicking up starlight behind him. No longer do his lungs burn, or his eyes squint closed. He sees everything, feels everything, and so when he hits the other side and gazes up the rock wall, he sees a sky full of stars that looks so,  _ so  _ familiar to him. It’s the same sky he’s seen through Yuusaku’s eyes, and the same view of the cliffside he once looked across searching for himself.

_ Three things,  _ he thinks.  _ Three reasons to find you … three steps to reach you. _

He raises a hand and pulls himself up the wall. This time, his muscles don’t scream in agony; in fact, Ryouken feels lighter than a feather. 

_ Take me to Yuusaku,  _ Ryouken thinks.

The closer he gets to the top of the cliffside, the warmer the air feels. Here, the water gently laps at the sides of the rock wall, and the world is so still that even the flutter of a butterfly's wings would disrupt the silence. As Ryouken climbs, he hears himself cracking through the world. He’s  _ louder  _ than all the other sounds combined, as if he’s making his grand entrance into this strange world.

When his fingers fist in the soft, green grass on the cliff, Ryouken yanks himself the rest of the way up, belly-flopping down on the ground. He gazes ahead, sucking in a breath. It’s the place – the cliff he visited with Kusanagi and AI when he lived as Yuusaku. Behind him, Stardust Road looks even more familiar, a pinnacle of warm, milky light stretching across the water.

_ I made it,  _ Ryouken thinks.

In the distance, Ryouken sees a figure move towards him – just a shadow at first, but before Ryouken even realises what he’s done he stretches out a hand and screams, “Yuusaku!”

He tumbles back. Flailing, Ryouken grasps at straw-like tendrils of grass to hold himself back up, but all too soon he plummets down the side of the cliff and back towards the water. He gasps and screams, and braces himself for the impact of hitting Stardust Road or the water below. However, he feels nothing. He falls and falls and falls, the starlight tumbling past him, the world blurring before his hazy eyes. Over the cliffside, Ryouken sees someone reach out to him too, but they’re both too far away from each other.

Then Ryouken  _ does  _ crack through Stardust Road. He doesn’t feel it, but suddenly the world erupts in white light dappled with blue and red stars, and muddled reflections catch in his eyes. He sees silver and gold too, twisting and twirling around each other as he tumbles through the endless landscape. When the coloured strings come closer, Ryouken weakly reaches out a hand to them –

Yuusaku.

* * *

_ “Yuusaku, come and help me.” _

_ Yuusaku pushes himself off from the counter, shoving the rest of a plain hotdog into his mouth. He hurries over to Kusanagi’s side, and climbs up onto the stepstool pushed against the counter. Yuusaku is much shorter than Kusanagi, but that’s because he’s still growing; someday, he’ll probably be taller … or shorter since Kusanagi tells him that a diet of plain hotdogs and juice won’t help a growing kid. _

_ “Up, up,” Kusanagi says, picking him up by the armpits so that he can peer over the edge of the counter.  _

_ Kusanagi has been cooking, it appears. There are all sorts of condiments in labeled containers, and inside the refrigerated drawers there are sauces upon sauces; it’s more toppings than Yuusaku ever thought could go on a hotdog. _

_ Carefully, Kusanagi passes him a knife and a bun. “Cut it down the middle, not too deep, but enough so that you can pull it open and put the ‘dog in.” _

_ Yuusaku doesn’t take the items. “But I’m not eating this …” _

_ Kusanagi chuckles deep in his throat. “I know that,” he says, cuffing Yuusaku on the head, “but someday you’re going to pay your rent and help me run this place, and it’s better you bungle up buns when you’re a kid than when you’re a teenager and supposed to be cooking food for yourself. Now here, let me show you …” _

_ Kusanagi’s hands cup Yuusaku’s, and together they go through the motions of cutting. Yuusaku feels like a puppet with its strings pulled, and so after Kusanagi shows him how to cut, he pulls away and says, “I’ve got it, now let me do it on my own.” _

_ “Fine, fine,” Kusanagi says, still chuckling. He leans back on the counter with a teasing smirk. “Now how about you add some ingredients to that? Make a chili dog.” _

_ “A …” Yuusaku swallows. He’s seen Kusanagi cook plenty of times, but he’s never paid attention to the toppings that go on the hotdogs. But instead of fumbling through it, Yuusaku simply shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know how yet. Teach me first, and then I’ll do it on my own.” _

_ Kusanagi’s eyebrows raise into his violet hairline. He doesn’t say anything, merely clicking his tongue against his teeth, and then he begins to name off the ingredients. Yuusaku follows along with each step, his eyes focused on the task. _

_ “Do you know what the Rule of Three is?” Kusanagi asks. _

_ Yuusaku shakes his head. _

_ “It’s a business term, or maybe a philosophical term, or …” Kusanagi laughs out loud. “I’m not even sure what it is, but things that come in three means more to people. If there are three things, they’ll stick in your memory more than two, or four, or ten things. Things that come in threes sound more appealing or memorable. That’s why …” Kusanagi taps his fingers to the meu. “There are three ingredients.” _

_ Yuusaku narrows his eyes. Kusanagi is right: there are three ingredients here – normal hotdog, chili dog, and coffee. But … _

_ “I thought that’s just because you didn’t want to make a bunch of weird hotdog flavours.” _

_ Kusanagi nearly chokes on his sip of coffee, and he clears his throat with a sharp cough. “No, that’s definitely not why there are three items. But imagine you had ten items on the list. Sure, that’s ten choices, but that’s a lot of words for people to read, and a lot of recipes that’ll hardly get used. Rule of three works here. And with the ingredients too.” Kusanagi waves his hand towards the refrigerated display case. “All the hotdogs here have three ingredients; the coffee too.” _

_ Again, Yuusaku narrows his eyes. “I see more than three ingredients though …” _

_ “I am trying to have a philosophical moment, Yuusaku,” Kusanagi says, and then laughs at his own words. “Just trust me – the rule of three matters.” _

_ Through Yuusaku’s long bangs, he sees Kusanagi smile. Yuusaku doesn’t smile that much, but he pulls up the corner of his mouth to make it quirk just a bit, and that only makes Kusanagi’s smile widen.  _

Ryouken’s eyes widen. Kusanagi and Yuusaku –

_ Yuusaku is older. He wears a crisp, black uniform trimmed with blue – the Den City Junior High uniform. Sitting at the computer desk nursing a cup of coffee, Yuusaku types away on the computer. Over the years, Kusanagi has taught him the ways of Adult Life: flipping weenies and hacking. Today, Yuusaku has been hacking into the computers of Sol Technologies’ developers, searching for any information about Link Vrains. _

_ “Your friend Aoi said her brother is working for Link Vrains and planning to bring it to Den City, right?” AI leans against Yuusaku’s ear. “What a swell guy.” _

_ Yuusaku brushes him off with a flick, but his gaze remains on the flashing computer screens lining an entire wall of the hotdog van. He’s been searching for hours through millions of files for any information, but there isn’t any news about the release of Link Vrains in minor cities. _

_ Yuusaku sighs into a fist. There’s dueling culture in Den City too, but it’s all youth meeting up with their friends and hanging out and dueling together, and Yuusaku doesn’t really want to be a part of that. He’d much rather log in, duel, and log out; the anonymity of virtual dueling is what interests him. Besides, Link Vrains is dueling platform built on endless possibilities: there are opportunities to duel anonymously and to make friends, and chances are no one would judge you for where you stand on the matter. _

_ “Oh look,” AI says suddenly. “Hanois.” _

_ Yuusaku pulls a face. The Knights of Hanoi have fought Sol Technologies tooth and nail to stop using AI-assisted dueling technology, or better yet to erase Link Vrains forever. Yuusaku doesn’t really understand their platform, and he doesn’t have the energy to listen to their prattle, so before AI can go off on a rant, he swap tabs. _

_ “Hey,” AI says, poking him in the head. “I was reading that.” _

_ “I wasn’t.” _

_ Besides, Yuusaku doesn’t care for drama and politics. He’s become much more interested in the new features of Link Vrains, mainly the inclusion of a beautiful dueling area called Stardust Road. It’s a prototype for a future dueling track meant to travel through the cosmos along a starry, watery trail, but even if it wasn’t a place meant for dueling, there’s something Yuusaku likes about it – beauty and aesthetics and solace. It looks quiet too, and Yuusaku supposes that if you walked to the middle of the sea, or even to the other side, it would be the most peaceful place in all of Link Vrains. _

_ He touches his fingers to the screen; with his other hand, Yuusaku tugs up a corner of his mouth. “Three things,” he whispers. “Three beauties, three words –” _

_ “You talkin’ to yourself, Mr. Playmaker?” AI says with a snort. _

_ Yuusaku clamps his mouth shut. He doesn’t remove his hands though, fingers ghosting over the crystal-clear screen. Beneath his fingertips is the starry sight of Stardust Road, a place Yuusaku has only dreamt of visiting. _

 

_ “Did you hear? The Hanois have been protesting Link Vrains’ release in Den City every step of the way. I’ve ever heard that there have been production delays. Sol Technologies is putting their back into it, but I swear they’re putting out more fires than they are actually programming the damn system.” _

_ “Sounds like some overtime, huh?” _

_ “It’s ruthless. The Hanois have never been this aggressive before, though this must be the final frontier attack. Regardless, who knows if Link Vrains will be released on time. Zaizen is doing everything he can to ensure it, but I’ve heard that there might even be a beta release, with patches released later on. That’s sure to make everyone unhappy.” _

 

_ “It’s time.” _

_ Yuusaku travels down a long, narrow road along the coast of Stardust Road. He kicks his feet up into the air, creating small plumes of dust. There isn’t a single person, animal, or car in sight – just him and the great, wide world. From time to time, Yuusaku takes a deep, heaving breath that raises his shoulders and expands his chest – and then he lets it out and tumbles towards the world, falling back into his shell of a body. _

_ The moonlight keeps him alive though. It catches in the blue and pink strands of his hair; in his glassy, green eyes; and on his school uniform. He didn’t even bother to change clothes when he left school, nor did he head home. He went straight towards Stardust Road, towards the outcropping that hangs over the sea. _

_ As Yuusaku approaches it, his heart rate quickens. He climbs up the side of the cliff and onto the dewy grass. It soaks through his pants, and he shivers. There’s a soft breeze that prickles along his skin, and warily Yuusaku glances around. Has someone followed him? Have Aoi and Naoki decided to tag along? _

_ No. _

_ He’s the only one here. _

_ Yuusaku settles on the edge of the cliff, dangling his legs above the milky water. A long time ago, Yuusaku saw bioluminescence – the jostling of tiny microorganisms gathered in the water that create beautiful, neon patterns. Beneath his feet, Yuusaku sees bioluminescence, though he tries to imagine it as fallen stars floating in the sea. The gentle waves lap against the side of the cliff, spraying a bit of water up to his toes. _

Ryouken swallows.

_ Yuusaku reaches into his backpack and extracts his old duel disk. It’s a bit battered and bruised, and no one else in his school has an old system like him – but Yuusaku still likes the clunky feeling of it between his hands. He slips it onto his arm and settles it down on his lap. He doesn’t have many apps on it, but recently he’s downloaded Link Vrains. _

_ Just a few more minutes. _

No. 

Ryouken stretches out a hand. No no  _ no,  _ Yuusaku – Yuusaku, the glitch, the malfunction –

_ Yuusaku thrums his fingers against the side of his duel disk. He stares out at the stars below. Perhaps when he connects to Link Vrains, he’ll see this same sight, and then he’ll be able to cross the water to the other side of Stardust Road. He’ll find out then and there what is truly waiting for him across the water. _

Yuusaku, stop – stop, listen,  _ please – _

_ 00:00. _

_ Yuusaku clicks the app open with a cry of, “Into the Vrains!” The world explodes in light, his duel disk burning against his arm. Yuusaku feels something electric course through his body and into his mind, and he gasps in euphoria. Through his squinted eyes he can see Stardust Road fading from his vision, and he tumbles forward towards the water, towards the beginning of the starry path. _

Three things. Three minutes, three seconds, three moments. 

Ryouken heaves himself upright with a choked gasp, coughing and panting. He coughs and coughs, his eyes filling with tears. He can hardly see or breathe, and for a painful second he wonders just what happened, just what he saw and did –

And then Ryouken sees the small, crunched room he’s sleeping in, and the tiny bed he’s lying on, and the doorway that nearly scrapes the corner of the mattress. This room is too small, and the bedstreets are wrapped too tightly around his ankles. And above him is the hazy, morning sky that Ryouken never sees through a skylight. It looks like the wrong world at first, and a bubble of anxiety fills his throat.

_ Pop! _

Ryouken lets his breath whoosh out of him. Everything begins to come into focus, piece by piece, detail by detail. The world fills out like a beautiful panorama, and suddenly Ryouken notices that he’s woken up in a familiar, albeit different, bed; and in a familiar, albeit different, body too. He gazes down at his cracked hands and bitten-to-the-quick nails. He runs his hands through his chunky locks, and then down against his cheeks, his nose, his lips. It’s not him, but it’s someone he’s met before, lived in before –

_ I’m Yuusaku,  _ Ryouken thinks.  _ He’s alive – he’s back – I’m home. _


	15. fifteen。

“You’re … alive.”

He can’t keep the wobble out of his words. He tries to say it clearly, strongly, but the euphoria of being back in Den City is too much for him. He can feel the tears leaking out of his eyes, and the thrum of his heartbeat in his chest. Everything feel like it’s supposed to. Everything is back to the way it was before, back when Yuusaku lived his boring life in Den City.

_ I’m back,  _ Ryouken thinks.

Ryouken hears footsteps on the other side of the door, light as a fairy’s but still audible. Then comes a great, thudding  _ knock!  _ and through the doorway bursts AI, his little face smushed back in what can only be a rendition of a shit-eating grin. His eyes narrow at Ryouken, and he singsongs, “Mr. Play-ma-ker, are you having another good … dre –”

The rest of the words fade away as AI’s eyes widen to the size of tennis balls, and he brings his round hands up to his face with a squeak. “What are you – what kind of dream has  _ that  _ reaction?”

“Dream?” Ryouken says. “What are you even – nevermind. You’re AI, aren’t you?”

“Are you seriously asking me that question?”

“What day is it? Is it the release of Link Vrains?” The words tumble from Ryouken’s lips before he can wheel them back. He has to know this – is today the day? Or is it tomorrow? How long does Yuusaku have to live? Or perhaps this is years before the terrible tragedy, and Ryouken has woken up in a time that he can never fix.

AI just stares at him, his face slowly stretching towards his toes. Then he snaps his chin back up and shoots out of the room, kicking the door behind him. Ryouken hears him through the doorway though: “Mr. Hotdog Man, Mr. Playmaker finally  _ snapped!” _

Ryouken kicks his feet free of the sheets with a huff. He pulls out Yuusaku’s duel disk and searches for the calendar app. Sure enough, not only does he find today's date, but Yuusaku has marked the release of Link Vrains too. 

Today.

Link Vrains releases today.

A stone lodges in Ryouken’s throat. He has one day to fix this then. One day to somehow stop thousands of players from death by electrocution via a software glitch in Link Vrains’ programming. It sounds so far-fetched and bizarre and incomprehensible that Ryouken doesn’t even think it’s possible. He stares down at the glowing screen, at the little event stamped marked “Today’s an important day!” and he feels his whole world cave in.

_ How am I supposed to even know how to save you?  _ Ryouken thinks. He squeezes the duel disk between his hands, and then releases it with a soft sigh. His hair hangs in front of his face, and he shakes his head to clear his vision –

Kusanagi is in the doorway this time, arms crossed in front of his chest. Despite his cold exterior though, he smiles warmly and bounces his shoulders. “Sorry for disturbing you, Yuusaku, but I couldn’t even understand what AI was saying there and so I figured I’d come and check up on you.” With a soft laugh, he scratches his head. “Looks like you’re just waking up though.”

Ryouken nods his head. “Yeah …” he says, eyes flicking towards the duel disk and the open calendar app. Kusanagi looks at it too, and his expression lightens even further.

“Today’s the day, isn’t it?” he says. “Been waiting for months for this release, but tonight it’ll finally be here. I bet you won’t be going to the midnight release in the city centre, right? Apparently a bunch of duelists are gathering together for one big hangout –”

“No,” Ryouken says quickly. He turns to Kusanagi and shakes his head. “You don’t understand – listen to me – something bad is going to happen –”

“Yuusaku?” Kusanagi cuts him off. 

Ryouken stops talking. The way Kusanagi is looking at him makes his blood run cold because all at once Kusanagi’s expression has grown too surprised, too bright, and he looks like he’s seen a ghost.

“You all right?” Stepping forward, Kusanagi sets a hand at the end of the bed. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Here, you’re probably hungry or tired; I didn’t even hear you come home last night …” Before Ryouken can retort, Kusanagi heads towards the front of the van. He returns moments later with a croissant and a cup of coffee that he extends towards Ryouken.

“I don’t want that,” Ryouken says with a sniff.

“Take it.” The items are placed in his hands. Ryouken glances down at them, stomach twisting. The last thing he needs to be doing is eating when there’s a risk of genocide on the horizon.

“Listen,” Ryouken says, “something horrible is going to happen to Link Vrains – a glitch in the system that’s going to backfire on all the duelists that will connect up to it tonight, and we need to spread the word before then. We need to stop the release of Link Vrains and force Sol Technologies to fix the system. This may sound far-fetched, but –”

Kusanagi pushes the drink with his fingertips. “Really, Yuusaku, if you’re that chatty this morning, something is clearly wrong. Do you have a fever?”

“No!” Ryouken growls out. “I’m speaking the truth –”

“Do you need a doctor?” Kusanagi continues, ignoring Ryouken’s prattling. He steps away from the bed and begins to turn back towards the front of the van, mumbling to himself about, “I think I saved that business card for the doctor’s in my glovebox …”

Ryouken drops the coffee and croissant in his hurry; the liquid sloshes over the bedsheets and onto his pyjama pants. Ryouken winces at the heat, but he leaps forward and catches the corner of Kusanagi’s jacket. “I’m not joking! If Link Vrains is released tonight, everyone will die! I saw it happen!”

Kusanagi peers over his shoulder, teeth in his lips. “I’m going to call the doctor.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryouken sees AI sitting on the kitchen counter with wide, droopy eyes. Ryouken points at AI and says, “He might know! He’s an AI – they have connections to Link Vrains. They’re from Sol Tech!”

“I am from a gift store,” AI says, standing upright with his hands on his hips. “And you, Mr. Playmaker, are so sick. I’ll have to play nurse and take care of you!”

“He doesn’t need that,” Kusanagi says. “He needs to just lie down and take it easy –”

Ryouken pushes himself off the bed with one last growl. He stumbles at first as his legs adjust to the weight of his body, but then once he’s standing upright and regained his balance he marches forward and past Kusanagi and AI. Neither of them reach out to him; instead, they stand with their mouths – or, in AI’s case, where his mouth should be – open as Ryouken heads out the door. He has his duel disk strapped to his wrist; he won’t need his school stuff anyway, not if he’s just heading to the school.

Before he leaves, he peeks his head back into the van. “Listen to me,” he says. “Whatever you do, don’t log into Link Vrains tonight. Don’t let anyone else do it either. Tell them it’s a trap.”

Neither of them say a word.

Ryouken slams the door closed. Outside, the morning air is crisp and warm. The van is parked close to Stardust Road and out by the water, and so there’s a faint ocean breeze that tugs at Ryouken’s rumpled uniform and messy hair. Mumbling to himself, Ryouken begins untangling his bangs as he heads back towards the city. Though it’s early in the day, it’s also a school day: he’ll see plenty of students.

From the moment he steps into the town, there are Link Vrains announcements everywhere: on the billboards and walls; in the windows of shops; and even on advertisements on the train. He never thought it would be such a popular attraction for Den City, though then again Link Vrains did see a surge of new duelists any time it was publicly brought to a new city. It makes sense that Sol Technologies went all-out with its advertising.

For once, Ryouken wishes that someone would walk with him for part of the way to school. In his own life, he dreaded taking the train with Spectre because he was so loud and chatty. Today though, the silence kills him from the inside. Ryouken wants to shout at everyone that they need to stay away from Link Vrains. He wants to tear down all the advertisements and blast away with jumbo screens in the hopes that it’ll scare anyone from logging in tonight. But on the walk to school, all Ryouken hears about is how everyone is staying up late tonight for the release of Link Vrains.

His stomach hurts even more.

When he does get to school, he nearly smiles when he sees Aoi and Naoki. They both lean against the school gates: Aoi fiddling with her duel disk, and Naoki flipping through a holographic screen. Ryouken can’t make out exactly what is on the screen, but before he even has a chance to greet them, Naoki closes it and starts pin-wheeling his hands.

“Fujiki! Fujiki, today’s the day!”

Aoi simply raises a hand in greeting.

“Listen –”

Naoki raises his duel disk. “Look at my avatar, Fujiki! Sol Tech has already released the deets on the character creator, and you can already make your avatar before the release!”

“I’ve already created mine too,” Aoi says, “though perhaps I’ll change the hairstyle later on. I’m not sure if I want pigtails or a bob-cut …”

Ryouken shoves the duel disks out of his face, and stares both of them down as if he has something very important to say. “Listen,” he says once more. “If you log onto Link Vrains, you will die. There is a glitch –”

“Die?” Naoki squeaks. 

Aoi raises an eyebrow. “What’s gotten into you? No one is dying from Link Vrains. Besides, my brother is head of security and I’m sure nothing like that could happen; my brother does his job well.”

“He’s overlooking things,” Ryouken says. “Zaizen’s under pressure from the Hanoi, and that’s why he’s going to miss key details. There’s something wrong with the system, a glitch or a missing line of code, or some other hacking detail that got overlooked – but if anyone logs into Link Vrains tonight, an electrical current is going to pass through the duel disk and into their brain, and they’ll die from electrocution.”

Naoki’s face grows as pale as the moon. “W-what?”

“That’s impossible,” Aoi says. “My brother –”

“Doesn’t know,” Ryouken says, “and I bet even if we told him he wouldn’t believe us. But trust me, I’m telling the truth.” Ryouken brings his hands back, and he sets one down on his own duel disk, on  _ Yuusaku’s  _ duel disk. “Trust me. I’ve found out something truly horrible, and I don’t want anyone to die. I don’t want there to be a mistake like this.”

For one painful second, all Ryouken hears is the thump-thump-thump of his own heart. He swallows a pit in his throat that slides down his esophagus and into his belly where it cramps and burns. He doesn’t move an inch though; if he pulls back, if he runs away, it’s over.

“I need your help,” Ryouken says, and then winces. “Help.” He says it again, rolling the vile word off of his tongue. The last thing he wants to do is bow down to anyone, but in this world he’s both the least- and most-informed person about what will happen tonight, and if he has any chance of saving anyone, he’ll need help.

Were these Ryouken’s own friends, they would have scoffed at him. But instead, it appears Yuusaku's friends actually listen to him, and so instead of shutting down his opinion, or mocking him, or just giving a disdainful look as if to say  _ how dare he ask for help,  _ Naoki just claps him loudly on the shoulder and bellows, "Well sure, Fujiki! If you say so!"

More reservedly, Aoi nods her head. "I think something else might be going on, but ... I'll help where I can."

It's more than Ryouken can ask for. With a grunt, he pushes himself away from the fence and away from the school. "Come on," he tells them. "We can't save the city from here."

Naoki whoops loudly, hurrying after him, and Aoi follows after Naoki. Ryouken sees the curious stares from Yuusaku's classmates, but he scowls at them as he leaves. If he gets more people involved, it'll only cause more panic. Instead, he'll just get Yuusaku's friends to help.

Once they're off of the school grounds, Ryouken heads down the cobblestone towards the city. He stays silent for the entire trip, hands clenched in tight fists. Behind him, Naoki and Aoi mumble softly to one another, but Ryouken pays them no heed. His mind is too focused on how he can stop Link Vrains.

Wait.

Ryouken spins around. "Zaizen – that's your name, right? Zaizen Aoi?"

Aoi tilts her head towards him. "You feeling all right, Fujiki?"

"You're Zaizen Akira's sister," he mumbles to himself, and then glances back at Aoi. "You can get into Sol Technologies, right? You'd have access?"

Naoki's face lights up with a bright grin. "Of course you do! Didn't we all go for a field trip once to your brother's work, way back in junior high? You remember that right, Fujiki? We got to see all the new tech –"

"Well," Ryouken says, cutting off Naoki's prattle. "Can you get us in, Zaizen?"

Aoi nods once. "It will be tricky because I'm in school, but I bet if I tell Miss Hayami that I have an urgent message for my brother that she should let me through. Then ... we'll sneak into the main computer room. There's a back-way into the programming too, so we'll need to log into Link Vrains' beta system to access the heavy coding. But I ..." Aoi shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know how to hack into my brother's system."

"That's fine," Ryouken says. "You just get us into Sol Technologies and I'll handle the rest."

To his side, Naoki gives another woop of glee. "Oh boy, I'm going back into Link Vrains!"

Ryouken raises a slender eyebrow. "Back?" he echoes. The last time he checked, no one in Den City had ever received access to Link Vrains, much less civilians and not Sol Technologies' programmers.

Naoki nods his head emphatically, but before he can open his mouth, Aoi gives a soft, albeit sharp, cough.

"Are we going?"

"Yes," Ryouken says, giving himself a quick shake. He glances around the city, looking for the path to take, when Aoi gives another small cough and takes a few steps towards a path. Sensing the cue, Ryouken heads off towards that direction, following the road as it snakes through suburbia and into Den City. He passes dozens of people who recognise Yuusaku's face and casually remark, "Aren't you kids supposed to be in school?" or "Can't wait to log into Link Vrains, I see." Every time Ryouken hears the word Link Vrains, his body gives a violent tremor. In less than twenty-four hours, most of this city's dueling residents will die. The weight of those words hangs on his shoulders.

Once they're in the city, Ryouken can spot the tall spire of Sol Technologies; it's the largest building in the city, a pinnacle of glass and steel. The walkway looks like a red-carpet boardwalk to a fancy event, and before him stands a building so imposing that Ryouken has to stretch his neck back just to see the roof. The walls are covered in one-way mirrors, and so as he approaches Ryouken's sees his stormy reflection.

Naoki whistles loudly. "Your brother works at a nice place," he comments.

Aoi shrugs her shoulders and leads the way into the building.

The interior is modernly decorated with a minimalist perspective in mind: the walls are grey tile, the furniture black; there are a couple chairs around coffee tables meant for waiting areas and small meetings. Directly before them is the front office where several secretaries sit typing away on holographic computers. Further back, Ryouken can see hallways branching out into various sections of the building, but the areas themselves are hidden by a floor-to-ceiling screen that hides the back of the building. There isn't a map in sight, and Ryouken heaves a sigh of relief as he watches Aoi step right up to one of the secretaries and say, "I'm here to see my brother."

"Go right ahead," the secretary says, not even looking up from his computer.

Over her shoulder, Aoi beckons them around.

As soon as they round the bend and pass the front desk, the building seems to open up like a panorama. There are clusters of workstations and computers gathered around projection screens that show shots of Link Vrains, of character creator profiles, of literally anything Ryouken has seen in Link Vrains. At each of the work stations are programmers typing away.

When Ryouken thought they were heading into Sol Technologies, he thought the three of them would be camouflaged and sneaking around corners. However, they walk around like normal civilians flanking Aoi, and no one seems to bat an eye at them. Even when Naoki starts fangirling about seeing new features of Link Vrains, whisper-yelling "Spoilers!", not a single employee glances in their general direction.

_ Tight security,  _ Ryouken thinks to himself.

Once they're past the lobby area, Aoi takes them to a large, steel elevator that shoots them off towards the stars. At times, Ryouken even thinks the elevator is traveling  _ sideways,  _ and when at last the doors open, he has no clue where in this massive building he's standing. Before him is an empty room though with a single, metal door.

"What's that?" Naoki asks.

"The back-way into Link Vrains," Aoi answers. She steps forward into the room, and at once lights begin to flash over her body. Ryouken gasps, thinking there are lasers about to shoot at her, but then Aoi begins to transform, her school uniform pixelating into a beautiful, blue dress. Blue hair sprouts from the crown on her head, and she twirls her fingers around the pigtails. "Maybe someday I'll keep it short."

Ryouken stands there with his mouth open. This ... is Link Vrains to the outside world? Ryouken can barely remember the first time he logged into the system; it's been a few years, and he's never bothered to log out, especially since Link Vrains became a permanent home for duelists.

_ Will I become Revolver then?  _ he thinks.

"Well," Aoi says, beckoning them forward.

Naoki jumps into the room with a cheer. He looks like a comic book hero combined with a Transformer, and Ryouken rolls his eyes are the sheer childishness of his design. He wonders just how Aoi and Naoki have received these outfits, but then again there was a beta mode here, and most likely duelists decided on their outfits before the launch date; Ryouken had his character design planned weeks before the launch in his own city.

Ryouken sticks one foot out, and Yuusaku's pant leg fades away not into white spandex, but into a black and green skin-suit decaled with yellow lines. It looks a bit like an online grid system. Ryouken steps the rest of the way into the room, and his uniform fades away to the full design of the skin-suit. In the mirrored walls, Ryouken sees his hair turn to yellow and pink spikes, but still maintaining the same design.

Naoki's mouth drops open. "F-Fujiki?"

Ryouken sucks in a breath. This form, this design ... is familiar. It looks like Yuusaku, but more than that it looks like someone Ryouken has seen before, maybe in a photograph or a model book for Link Vrains avatars. Something about Yuusaku's Link Vrains avatar doesn't look unfamiliar to Ryouken, and he wracks his brain as he tries to think about why that might be – why doesn't this design surprise him?

"Fujiki." Aoi's words shake him out of his reverie. "We're going, aren't we?"

Naoki lets out a whoop of glee. "We're going back to Link Vrains!"

Ryouken doesn't have a moment to process those words before the metal door swings open and Naoki pulls both him and Aoi through the passageway and into the back-door access of Link Vrains.


	16. sixteen。

When Ryouken first entered Link Vrains, he explored nearly every area of the available map. As he became a student and received responsibilities, he stopped checking out the newer areas added in recent patches. So while Ryouken can say that he hasn't seen  _ all  _ of Link Vrains, he knows he's visited most of the areas. Never in Ryouken's life thought has he seen the back-door to Link Vrains.

It looks like a maze. Someone must have programmed it to have a specific design, for it appears to be a great, electric maze with endlessly-tall walls and wide paths to snake through. The door they passed through was attached to only a section of the wall, so when Ryouken, Aoi, and Naoki stepped into Link Vrains, they found themselves hovering.

Now, Ryouken floats with his arms crossed and his teeth in his lip. It doesn't matter whether he looks left or right because it's the same vague sight before him: hallways upon hallways seeming to lead to nowhere. To his side, Naoki hasn't stopped rambling on and on about all the neat designs; and Aoi stands a few feet away from them, twisting her head from side to side as if she too is lost in this strange maze.

"I've never actually been here before," Aoi admits, her voice so soft Ryouken barely catches it. He tries not to snort, but she still hears the sound and flinches. "It's fine. We'll just wander down one of these hallways."

Ryouken raises an eyebrow. Is it truly so easy to get into Link Vrains? Won't there be security stopping them? Or what about cameras?

"Is your brother going to find us?" he asks Aoi.

She shakes her head. "It's not like anyone goes wandering into Link Vrains, and if someone hacked into the system, there would be an alert. But we're not hacking it from the inside, so no one will be looking for me." She glances around and up at the tall walls. "But I've never seen this place ..."

"What's your plan?" Naoki asks him.

"What?" Ryouken says first, and then he clears his throat and adds, "We need to break Link Vrains from the inside, or cause a malfunction that won't let anyone log in."

"Like a system error?" Aoi says.

Ryouken nods his head. "It can't backlash and hurt anyone, but until Sol Technologies fixes their programming, no one can get in."

"But then why don't we just tell Zaizen Akira?" Naoki says. "Aoi, call your brother right now –”

"How?"

"– and tell him he has a glitch in his system."

"Because my brother didn't do anything wrong," Aoi says with a huff. "It's not his fault Fujiki here says something bad is going to happen. We're just going to do some exploring and delay it, and find a way to make it not my brother's fault." Aoi turns to Ryouken. "Right?"

"Right."

"So then ..." Naoki claps his hands together. "How are we bringing this system down?"

"We'll fix it ourselves," Ryouken says. At both Aoi and Naoki's confused stares, he continues: "If you’re going to say your brother is right and won't do anything, which is what it sounds like, then I'll just go in and fix it myself. In the meantime, you two can go back –"

"What?" Naoki cries.

"– and I'll deal with it from here."

Aoi merely raises an eyebrow. "Go back? Fujiki, I'm not leaving you in here to do all the work."

"You won't be. You make sure that no one logs in tonight, just in case the system doesn't get fixed. Think of it as like an evacuation plan."

Aoi shakes her head. "That'll put blame on my brother."

"Then blame it on someone else then."

Naoki smacks a fist down on his open palm and lets out, once more, a whoop. "The Hanois! Blame it on the Hanois!"

Ryouken remembers reading about the Hanois when he researched the Den City catastrophe. According to those texts, the Knights of Hanoi were originally the protest group that caused so many problems for Sol Technologies. It would make sense then to push the blame of Link Vrains' release on the Hanois, and perhaps scare Den City residents from logging in.

"You do that then," Ryouken says. "Cause a scene, create panic; start a trending tweet or whatever else you want to do, just make sure that  _ no one  _ logs in tonight."

Naoki and Aoi swallow visibly, and both of their face draw pale and wan even in their avatars.

"What's going to happen ...?" Aoi finally asks. "You know something, don't you, Fujiki? H-how do you know that something bad is going to happen?"

"Just follow my orders," Ryouken says. "Listen to me. If anyone logs in tonight, there will be consequences that can never be repaired, and ..." Ryouken smiles grimly. "Your brother will never heal from the backlash he'll receive."

As if those words are God's command, Aoi stands up pin-straight and rolls her shoulders back. She looks like a warrior ready for battle, her hands balled into tight fists, her eyebrow pulled low over her periwinkle eyes. "I'll do it," she says. "I'll do it for my brother."

Naoki gives Ryouken a big thumbs up. "I'll do it for you, Fujiki!" Then he sombres, just slightly, and asks, "And what are you going to do? Are you going in there?" His last words come out as a squeak, and his eyes flicker towards the vast, empty hallways. Even Ryouken doesn't know what lays beyond there in the mysterious caverns of Link Vrains,

"I'm going to fix Link Vrains."

Naoki swings an arm forward, spreading his finger out like the points of a star. Then he glances to Aoi and Ryouken and says, "Well, hands in for a group cheer."

Neither Aoi nor Ryouken move.

"Fine," Naoki says with an emphatic sigh. "No group cheer."

"Don't screw up," Aoi tells Ryouken before she turns away and heads back towards the door. "Link Vrains' is my brother's life, so don't mess around with it."

Naoki goes following after her, but keeps on waving to Ryouken with big, sweeping gestures. "Have fun saving the world, Fujiki! We'll take matters in Den City from here."

And though Ryouken rarely smiles, he feels his lips quirk up a bit – not much, but he brings a finger to the corner of his mouth and pushes at the skin of his lips. He's smiling, just a bit. Fortunately, Aoi and Naoki have their backs turned.

When Ryouken spins around to face Link Vrains, he squares his shoulders and takes a deep breath. The deep chasms of the maze create spikes of anxiety in his mind, and even standing still Ryouken feels like he's caught in a spotlight, as if someone is watching him. His skin crawls with worry that he tries to push away. There aren't even any lights to guide him – no secret path to lead him to the goal.

_ I'm coming,  _ Ryouken thinks, taking a step forward through the air.  _ I'm coming to save you, Yuusaku. _

* * *

Aoi glances over her shoulder, one eyebrow poised high into the dollop of her bangs. "Are you following me?"

"Nuh uh," Naoki says. "We're working on this together."

"You're following me then." Aoi sighs and tilts her head back to the blue sky and fluffy clouds. It's too perfect of a day, she thinks. Ever since Yuusaku first burst through the school gates and told her that there was something wrong with Link Vrains, she's been noticing little, too-perfect details about the day, almost as if the threat of the apocalypse is all a make-believe hoax.

She wants to believe Yuusaku is wrong. She wants to believe she is right, and her brother is right, and that everything is going to be all right with Link Vrains too. She wants to log in tonight and properly see the beautiful world her brother has created for duelists all across Den City. She doesn't want to worry about anything, especially not anyone's death.

But then fighting that feeling only exhausts her, and Aoi feels like she wants to curl into herself and not say anything. This city feels like it will swallow her up at times, as if she's too small and insignificant to make any real impact – and she wants to. She wants her brother to see her strength, and she wants the world to listen to her ... but does that mean sabotaging her brother's dream?

She doesn't even have the energy to push Naoki away. He walks right on her heels, his breath hot on her neck even though his face  _ can't  _ even be that close to her. How come he isn't anxious about the end of the world? What, is he some kind of brave hero now all because he got to see his Link Vrains avatar and tag along with Yuusaku and his weird plan?

"So how're we going to do this?" Naoki asks her, interrupting her thoughts. "You know, save the world, I mean."

Aoi shrugs. She turns down another sidestreet, and then another, and then stops right out front of her apartment complex. Her apartment is on the top floor, a penthouse with a beautiful view of Den City. Here on the ground floor though, the building looks much simpler, with a basic lobby decorated with a few couches and a coffee table; a service desk manned by a couple employees; and, to the side, an elevator.

"Your place?" Naoki says, his voice coming out as a squeak. "We're going to your  _ house?" _

"There's internet there," Aoi says by way of explanation, leading Naoki to the elevator. The doors open for them, and no sooner have they closed does the elevator shoot up towards the stars. Halfway up, the steel wall gives way to a window through which Aoi can see the city stretching far and wide. She looks out to the water and the crystal stars reflected on its surface. She always did like that view out the window.

When the doors finally open, Aoi steps into a single hallway leading to a tall, oak door. Naoki follows her out, gaping at the windows and paintings lining the path to the doorway. Aoi opens the door to her apartment and kicks off her shoes at the genkan. She glances back to see if Naoki has followed her, and she nearly bumps faces with him – he was that close to her!

"What are you –"

"This place looks nice!" The words burst out of Naoki in one breath. He kicks off his shoes too, and rather than waiting for her to show him around, he wanders down the hallway and into the living room.

"Hey," Aoi says. "Stay in that room."

Naoki acts like he never heard her, heading first towards the bathroom and then into the kitchen. He makes little sounds of agreement, oohs or ahs. After a moment, Aoi gives up on asking him to sit still and just heads to the living room. She pulls out her phone, and then her computer, and plays around with some of the social media programs that she's never used. Once upon a time, she wanted to have an audience. She still does, but not yet ...

_ I'm not Blue Angel yet. I'm not an entertainer nor a Charisma Duelist. No one is watching me... _

She sighs again, her soul slipping away from her body. Yuusaku said to try and challenge Link Vrains on social media, but it's unlikely she'd ever get something trending.

Just as she's about to slip her phone away, Naoki comes around the corner with a wide grin. "Ready to stir up the pot?" he says.

Aoi presses her lips into a tight, firm line. "You know," she says, "if Yuusaku takes down Link Vrains and challenges Den City, and gets away with it, we duelists might never have a chance of accessing Link Vrains. Maybe we'll never get to be international duelists."

Naoki wavs her off. "No way, your brother wouldn't let that happen."

Aoi doesn't waver though. "But what if going against all of this and believing Fujiki only leads to more problems. I don't ... I don't want to break what my brother built."

For a moment, Naoki falls silent. Rarely does Aoi ever hear silence around him: Naoki is always talking away about some dueling feature or another, and even if Aoi likes Link Vrains, even she doesn't want to hear about it twenty-four-seven. To her surprise though, when Naoki next speaks, he doesn't mention Link Vrains at all.

"You really care about your brother, don't you?"

Aoi looks down at her hands. Her brother has cared for her all these years. He's put a roof over her head and food on her plate; he's struggled and survived so she could thrive, and Aoi can't thank him enough for everything he's done. Link Vrains belongs to him, and tearing it apart is like physically hurting her brother. But Aoi can't shake the feeling that Yuusaku is right, and that something is wrong. Her brother has been pressured for months by the Hanois which has led to many long work days and zero time off. So after everything that her brother has done, after everything he has struggled through, can she really tear it apart for his own sake?

"You want to make your brother happy?"

Aoi nods her head, just once. She'll do anything to please her brother.

"Then let's make sure that Link Vrains is a success. Let's take down the Hanois together, even if it puts some strain on Sol Technologies."

Aoi swallows thickly.

"Because Fujiki is doing brave work too. He's going into Link Vrains and fixing their programming just like the hackerman he is; so we have to do our part too. We have to do what we can to save everyone because – because we're heroes."

"He ... roes?"

"Heroes," Naoki repeats. "Now who can we call? Who can help us out here?" Naoki hums and hahs for a few minutes, and then claps his hands together. "You know who the best people to talk to are? Duelists themselves! Let's call our duel club and ask them to spread the news."

Aoi wants to tell Naoki it's a stupid idea, but she has to admit that if there's any way to contact duelists and warn them, it would be through the dueling club. As a member herself, she knows how many connections Den City High's dueling club has with the citywide dueling community: there are online social groups and everything that the message could be broadcasted through. However ...

"Let me write it," Aoi says. "Let me give them the message."

"Tell them the Hanois planted a virus and to stay away from Link Vrains on its opening night!"

Aoi nods. She pulls out her computer and opens a blank document. Then she types:

_ Den City Duelists! The Hanois have struck Link Vrains and are planning to corrupt this new virtual dueling technology. This attack will strike duelists precisely at the launch time of Link Vrains, so for your safety, please do not log in. Please excuse the delayed arrival of Link Vrains, and please look forward to its grand unveiling in the near future. _

_ #LinkVrains _

_ Sincerely, _

_ Blue Angel _

"Who's Blue Angel?" Naoki asks.

Aoi shrugs her shoulders. No one will know it was her, as she too prefers anonymity. But perhaps, with any luck, her message will reach other duelists. She sends it to all the social platforms she's a part of, all the group chats and forums she's been invited to but never once participated in. She copies and pastes the message so many times that, by the time she's done, she's memorised her speech.

And then she goes back and looks through the comments. And waits. And watches as the view count increases, as more and more people see the message.  She holds her breath and watches the message spiral across the web like a thread branching off a million direction. Over her shoulder, Naoki watches too, but instead of holding his breath, he keeps cheering, and laughing, and telling her, "It's working! Blue Angel, it's working."

Aoi lets out the breath she's been holding in. Blue Angel ... that's who she is. That's who she wants to be, all for herself, not for anyone else. She won't hurt her brother this way, and he'll still love her and won't get in trouble, but maybe this will help him too. Maybe there really is something wrong with Link Vrains and she needs to do her part.

"Don't worry," Naoki says to her. "Even if Link Vrains crashes for like a day or two, it's not like it's going to destroy the entire company or anything. There are too many duelists looking forward to Link Vrains for any of them to really take this delay as a reason to stop dueling online."

Aoi hopes so, and, ever so gently, she pulls a corner of her lip up into a smile. It doesn't feel real, and sometimes she doesn't even feel real, but as her message begins to trend on every social media platform across Den City, she begins to think that maybe, just maybe, she made the right choice. 


	17. seventeen。

Ryouken stares down the endlessly long corridors, wondering even where he can begin. Each path looks the same, and when Ryouken glances back to the tiny door blending into the side of the wall, he realises that if he moves from his original spot, even just a teensy bit, he'll be absolutely lost in here and never find his way out. So he hangs and waits for a moment, clenching and unclenching his sweaty fists, and debates where he can go. On one hand, he could just begin floating through cyberspace until he finds another door, but Ryouken wishes he had a map with him; fortunately, there isn't anyone he needs to ask directions from.

With a sigh, Ryouken pushes away from the wall and begins to travel down the middle path. He looks over his shoulder to see if he can spot the doorway back into Sol Technologies, but it's already disappeared and Ryouken doubts he'll ever see it again.

As he lifts his arm, he notes the old duel disk strapped there. It's unlike any other duel disk Ryouken has seen, a relic from an old version of Duel Monsters, but despite it's boxy size and awkward feeling, Ryouken spots a button that looks vaguely familiar to one on his own duel disk. Teeth in his lip, he wonders ...

When he presses the button, a large D-Board pixelates beneath his feet. It's white and black, with blue fins across the tail to steady it. There are little orange decals too that remind Ryouken of the detailing on Yuusaku's avatar's jumpsuit. Ryouken stumbles for a second as he gathers his balance, and then he carefully positions himself on the board and slowly guides it forward. The board splutters, as if it's rarely been used, and then it jets forward into the passageway.

It's faster than Ryouken remembers it being, cutting through the spotty universe. No longer caring about where he travels, Ryouken drives the D-Board left and right, heading down unfamiliar pathways just to see what lies on the other side. For a while, all he sees are tall walls and the darkness under his feet. However, when he rounds a sharp bend into a new cyberspace hallway, Ryouken sees zaps of electricity cutting through the otherwise-peaceful air.

_ A glitch? _

Whenever Link Vrains has malfunctioned, as all technology is expected to do, Ryouken remembers seeing lightning cut through the air. This looks like the same sort of glitch, only multiplied. The entire passageway glows and hisses, and as Ryouken brings his board closer to the scene, he feels the static in the air. Further down the hallway, he sees even more lightning too, and it winds around the bends of the passage.

Ryouken feels his heart thump in his chest. If he hits that lightning, it will harm him in the real-world too: it'll shock his system and, if he's struck too many times, it could cause permanent, lethal damage.

_ This must be what attacked the Den City duelists then. But how ...? _

Ryouken squares his shoulder and veers his board to the side of the wall. When he sees a zap of electricity in the corner of his eye, chasing after him like a hungry serpent, he twists himself to the side, sometimes even flipping his board upside down, to avoid it. With a few years of Speed Dueling under his belt, Ryouken doesn't find it too difficult to cross through the thicket of electricity, but when he makes it out of the mess, he finds himself even more lost.

It's endless.

All the hallways look the same, some of them tainted by blue electricity, and others simply just dark. There isn't a single clue in sight, and when Ryouken glances back over his shoulder, he sees nothing that tells him he took the right or wrong path.

Then, in his peripherals, he sees something  _ move –  _ not an electric snake, not even anything dangerous. It's something small and round, shaped like a metal ball, with a screen for a face. It comes flying at him though, and Ryouken veers sharply aside to avoid its attack. "What –"

Linkuriboh. He's seen this monster before, acting as a sort of mascot for some of Link Vrains' community events. Ryouken narrows his eyes at the little duel monster, now shaking itself off like a dog. Linkuriboh turns around; on its screen appear two little U's shaped like eyes.

"Hey ..." Ryouken says after a moment. "Are you ... from Link Vrains?"

Linkuriboh nods its head emphatically, nearly toppling itself over in its excitement. Its triangular tail beats up and down too, and no sooner has Ryouken spoken the words does Linkuriboh dash off to the side and down one of the paths.

"Hey!" Ryouken dashes forward. "That was a question – answer me!"

Linkuriboh merely darts down another path.

Ryouken leans into his D-Board. The air crackles around him, and he wishes he had a helmet that would shield his eyes; he squints to see the little duel monster darting from side to side. Linkuriboh takes him through dozens of pathways, some even infested with the electric glitches. Ryouken avoids them as best as he can, but –

As he turns to the side, his board catches on the corner of the wall and he tumbles into a thicket of electricity. He feels the zap instantly, cutting right down to his spine. Ryouken howls in pain; he clings to his board, and as his brain short-circuits, he forces his D-Board to shoot forward. It doesn't matter if he hits another wave – he needs to get  _ out – _

His board smashes into the wall. Ryouken's mind trips and tumbles, his vision spinning. Suddenly the world looks darker and inkier, as if Link Vrains lost power and he's too late. Ryouken clings for dear life to the corner of his board, but his entire body screams in agony. He hears the shrill cries of Linkuriboh, and something pushes at his legs to get him back up onto his D-Board. However, even when he gets up, he topples forward onto the board and hangs his weary body.

_ I can't do this. _

He doesn't say it out loud, but it rings within his soul in a low, mournful note. In the hazy reflection of his D-Board, he sees Yuusaku's face ... no, his avatar's face ... staring back at him. It looks like Yuusaku, and maybe even a bit like someone else. And when Ryouken sees that face staring back at him, his heart aches even more.

_ I always fail, Yuusaku. _

The corner of his duel disk begins to glow a soft, warm light. Tiredly, Ryouken lifts his head. At the edge of the board sits Linkuriboh, and stretching back from the little duel monster is a long, twirling path made of stardust. Ryouken rubs one of his eyes, but the sight still shimmers before him.

Stars.

Just like Stardust Road.

Linkuriboh lets out a little shrill  _ kuri!  _ and tips the nose of the board forward, then back up, bumping it along the starry path. Ryouken climbs forward on the board, first on his hands and knees, and then up to full height. The electrical currents travel around the starry road, so when Ryouken begins to follow it, he avoids any and all harm.

_ Was this path here all along? Where did it come from? _

Ryouken wants to say Yuusaku, but then he's Yuusaku, and the actual Yuusaku is ...

He rubs his head with a sigh. Some things just don't have to make sense.

A sharp ring pulls him out of his thoughts. Ryouken blinks blearily at his duel disk once more. There's another flashing screen, and it reminds Ryouken of a messaging app. On his own duel disk he has chats open with Spectre and Vyra, and with a couple other co-workers who he trades shifts with. However, Ryouken never thought that Yuusaku would message anyone.

With a shrug, Ryouken answers the call. A small, holographic screen bursts from the top of his duel disks and projects an image in the air. On the screen is Kusanagi and AI, both of them appearing to be sitting at the computers across from the kitchen. They both look worried, and no sooner has Ryouken opened his mouth does AI shove his face in the middle of the screen and bellow, "Mr. Play-ma-ker! Are you – wait, where  _ are  _ you?"

Ryouken startles. Of course AI and Kusanagi can see what's behind him too, and it must look nothing like the typical landscapes of Den City. Ryouken just shrugs though.

A hand appears above AI's head and pulls him away from the camera, so that Kusanagi can now gaze at him. He's wearing his cooking apron and his hair is pulled back with a black bandana, though his bangs still peek out through the fabric. He looks worried too, lips pursed in a tight line.

"Where are you, Yuusaku?"

Ryouken swallows thickly. What can he tell them? What would Yuusaku tell them?

"Are you even in school? Because there's a message on my answering machine saying that you're absent."

Ryouken shrugs again. He glances from side to side, to the tall walls of the back-door of Link Vrains. Somewhere around here, Ryouken should be able to sneak into Link Vrains itself. He  _ must  _ be able to. There's no way that Zaizen Akira has locked up all the passageways until the day they head into Link Vrains.

"Is this about this morning?" Kusanagi asks.

Slowly, Ryouken nods his head. "Nobody can log into Link Vrains tonight, Kusanagi, AI. Nobody. If anyone attempts to log in, they'll .... they'll be hurt." He twists his duel disk around to the electric walls. "This will electrocute anyone it touches, anyone –"

"Wait!" AI grabs the camera and twists it towards himself, so that his entire, black-and-purple face is in view once more. "You're – you're saying you're in Link Vrains?!"

"Yes, but –"

"But that wasn't there  _ before!" _

_ Before?  _ Ryouken's lips pull down into a frown. He's heard that before, actually. Naoki was talking about Link Vrains too, and about how he'd already been there. But then Link Vrains never premiered in Den City until tonight when the accident occurred, so how could anyone get access?

AI keeps talking though: "No, no, Sol Tech didn't add electric currents – they had lasers! And buildings! And duel schools! Talk about copying some already-famous tech from dueling cities, but there wasn't any torture items. Now ..." AI rubs his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not saying it  _ can't  _ get a bit kinky in there –"

"That's enough from you," Kusanagi says, pulling AI backwards so that he no longer takes up the screen.

However, Ryouken darts forward, shaking his duel disk in his hurry. "Wait – what? Link Vrains was already live?"

"Not live," AI says, wriggling free from Kusanagi's hands only to be trapped once more.

"You don't remember, Yuusaku?" Kusanagi says. "The beta version? You pulled  _ two  _ all-nighters just so that you could use all the time you had to play online."

Ryouken doesn't remember ever hearing about that. When his own city got Link Vrains in the first wave of releases, there was no beta trial. However, it appears as Link Vrains was rolled out to smaller communities it came in beta packages, perhaps to amp up the hype of virtual dueling. But then that means that Yuusaku has been to Link Vrains before, and the others –

"Yuusaku ... was in Link Vrains ..."

_ "You  _ were in Link Vrains," Kusanagi corrects. "Geez, Yuusaku, are you sure you don't need a doctor? You look really pale. And where even are you?"

Ryouken snaps closed the video before he hears another word. Rolling thunder fills his ears, and his eyesight grows hazy as he feels memory after a memory churn. He sees his reflection – Yuusaku's reflection – in the walls, and it never surprises him how familiar he looks, as if he's seen this foreign duelist before, as if once upon a time he met –

* * *

Into the Vrains!

_ Yuusaku opens his eyes to a city so big that it swallows him up. Yuusaku opens and closes his eyes again, and again, and then once more, and each time he sees the city, it's transformed into an entirely new world. He's standing in a city square where thousands of duelists have appeared. Most of them look vaguely like Den City duelists if Yuusaku can go by their blank stares or squealing cheers. However, there's also an assortment of seasoned duelists in Link Vrains who must hail from cities who have received the update years ago, as these duelists wander around with ease like they've seen the sights every day for a thousand years. _

_ Above his head is a world like no other. The buildings tower over than him, taller than even the Sol Technologies headquarters in Den City. A pixelated road snakes through the buildings and weaves into the beautiful, cloudy sky. Yuusaku sees duelists on the road too, skating on D-Boards. It looks like a high-definition shot of some of the concept art Yuusaku has seen of Link Vrains. Sure, people have taken screenshots and uploaded them to the web, but never before has Yuusaku seen such a crystal-clear image of the beauty of Link Vrains. _

_ Back on the ground, people brush by him without even saying hello. No one makes small talk with him as he gapes around, and while he's certain he can figure out Den City residents by their duelist avatars, no one notices him. No one speaks to him, not even when he follows a crowd through the plaza and then out onto the main road. _

_ To Yuusaku's surprise, Link Vrains looks like a regular city. There are restaurants and department stores, and duelists can buy both dueling and household merchandise. There are several little sub-divisions of Link Vrains that are residential spaces for duelists and their families. There are roads and cars too, but above his head Yuusaku catches sight of people not dueling on the pathways, but _ commuting.

It really is just like a city, _ Yuusaku thinks. When he researched Link Vrains prior to the beta release in Den City, he learnt that there is even a school here: not a dueling school, but a regular, public education school that hands out diplomas. It's a new release, and so the school is rather small with only one class per grade, but it's still a wonderful invention for a virtual city. _

_ Yuusaku doesn't have time to gape around the city though. He tucks his head down and weaves his way out of a crowd and onto one of the main streets. He starts walking down it, occasionally turning left or right whenever he feels like it. He's looking for someone ... someone he's never met before, but that he knows of. Yuusaku has lived his life before, in fact. _

I wonder if you'll be surprised to see me, Ryouken.

_ As he heads deeper into the city, the streets become more familiar. He recognises the park he once ate at, and the little cafe that Spectre frequently visits. From there, he walks down a stripway towards the subway. Yuusaku pats his pockets before he realises that he doesn't have a subway ticket with him, much less a wallet to pay for one with. He groans to himself and stomps back up the steps, but before he leaves, he tries to gaze into the tunnel to see if he can spot Ryouken heading to school. _

_ When Yuusaku returns to the surface, he checks his watch. 17:00. What would Ryouken be doing at that hour? He'd be out of school, maybe at his part-time job, maybe at home. _

_ In the distance, Yuusaku sees the twinkle of starlight. He looks up and away, and through the tall buildings and the thick trees he sees something shining out there. _

_ Stardust Road. _

_ Not only does Yuusaku want to see that in person, but he knows Ryouken lives by the water too. Quickly, Yuusaku hurries off and back through the crowds. He passes Den City residents eagerly shopping and chatting with anyone they can, and Yuusaku even sees Naoki and Aoi standing around. He's seen their Link Vrains avatars – er, well he's seen Naoki's because he showed it to everyone in the school, and he knows about Aoi's simply because it doesn't take a genius to know that she'd base her avatar after her favourite childhood book _ Blue Angel.

_ Neither of them recognise him though and Yuusaku walks away with his head held high. _

_ When he gets out of the city itself, the world opens up a bit more. The residential areas of Link Vrains are beautifully decorated with trees and shrubs, though along the Stardust Road boardwalk the only view is of the great, blue sea. As Yuusaku turns the corner, he has to raise his arm over his eyes as the light assaults him. But when he can see, he spots the stars reflected on the water, their images blurred from the crest of the gentle waves. It's a sight Yuusaku has seen time and time again, and yet it never gets old. _

_ Stardust Road looks just like it does it the promotional images, and even more so like the beautiful sight in Den City. The bioluminescence creeps around the water, startled and stirred by even a single breath of air. It forms a road too that starts at where the moon has slowly begun to descend below the water. To one side of the road, Yuusaku sees a path lit by street lamps that travels as far as he can imagine; and to the other side, the path hikes up a hill and to a large mansion nestled on the peak of the hill. _

Ryouken's house, _ Yuusaku thinks. _

_ Yuusaku takes a step towards that road, but then hesitates. Can he really just go to Ryouken's house? Can he just show up unannounced in someone else's life? And much less in someone else's life that he probably should have never been able to see? _

Do you even want to see me? _ Yuusaku wonders to himself. He's wanted to see Ryouken ever since they first swapped bodies and Yuusaku experienced living a life that he actually wanted to live. Yuusaku wants to meet the lucky fool who was in the right place at the right time and got to live in Link Vrains. But then not until this moment has Yuusaku ever wondered if Ryouken shared this thought too? How does Ryouken feel about body-swapping? How does Ryouken feel about him? _

_ Yuusaku balls his hands in fists and stares up at the mansion on the hill. He knows that house, and its resident. Yuusaku knows Link Vrains better than he knows Den City. And – _

_ Someone crosses by him – a boy in a school uniform, his hair so bright that it catches in the starlight of Stardust Road. Yuusaku's eyes snap around, and he sucks in a deep breath when he sees Ryouken walk right past him without even blinking. _

_ Yuusaku can't help it: he shouts to Ryouken. _

_ "Hey!" _

_ Ryouken keeps on walking like he never heard anything. _

_ Growling, Yuusaku steps forward, feet pounding on the concrete. "Ryouken." _

_ This time Ryouken turns around, eyes widening. Yuusaku feels his heart catch in his chest, and he pushes forward and stops inches away from Ryouken. Ryouken is taller, Yuusaku realises – taller, and broader, like he's filled out his Link Vrains form by working out. He has a stern jaw and harsh eyes, but as Yuusaku raises his head, Ryouken's entire form softens just a bit. _

_ Ryouken doesn't say anything though. _

_ "You can see me ... right?" Yuusaku says, and then he glances down once he realises how strange that must sound. "You remember me?" he tries again. _

_ "You must have the wrong person," Ryouken says. _

_ The entire world deflates. Yuusaku sees the light flicker at the corners of his eyes, and his heart clenches. How could Ryouken forget? This has to be the same person! There can't be another Ryouken out there, right? And how could someone forget body-swapping, especially after they've been doing it for over a month? _

_ "Sorry," Ryouken adds. Then, with a soft chuckle, he adds, "You must be a new duelist from Den City, right? I heard there's a two-day beta test going on. You must have been one of the lucky winners to get early access." _

_ Yuusaku lets out the breath he was holding in. "Yeah ..." he says, and then adds, "Yeah, I got lucky." _

_ "You like it?" _

_ "Yeah." _

_ "Duel anyone yet?" _

_ "No." _

_ Yuusaku feels his cheeks begin to darken. He's not used to keeping up with conversation, and though he wants to speak to Ryouken, he cant' find it in him to keep talking, as if he's not sure how normal human communication should be. What should he ask Ryouken about? What do they have in common? _

Do I truly not know you? No ...

_ "Nice night out, huh?" The words leave Yuusaku's lips before he can wrangle it back. _

_ To Yuusaku's surprise though, Ryouken smiles fondly out at the water, as if he's reminiscing about a favourite memory. "My house is up on that hill, believe it or not. I love being out here by the water. This place ... is special. There's something sacred about here that makes me want to spend all night out by the water." _

_ "It's bioluminescence, you know," Yuusaku says. _

_ "Maybe where you come from," Ryouken says with a snort, "but here in Link Vrains, there really are stars in the water. Come look." _

_ Ryouken steps forward and beckons Yuusaku to follow. Yuusaku blinks in surprise, but then follows along and leans against the metal fence bordering the coast of the boardwalk. From this angle, the waves are much more choppy and beat along the sides of the wall. Yuusaku squints his eyes to see the microscopic creatures that create the bioluminescence, but never once does the starlight flicker away from the path created by the moon. _

_ "With technology, you can create masterpieces. Anything and everything can exist, even miracles. And so there's no science to Stardust Road, no practical reason. It just exists, and lives, and grows." _

_ "Philosophical," Yuusaku murmurs. _

_ And then Ryouken keeps talking, voice a quiet lull: "Actually, there's three reasons why I like this place: one, it's quiet; two, it's peaceful; and three, it's beautiful." _

_ "Just three?" Yuusaku finds himself asking. _

_ "Three things, three reasons ... you never need more than three." _

_ Yuusaku chuckles to himself. Kusanagi has told him that before, but he's never heard anyone else say it. He leans down against the fence bars and cradles his head in his hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Ryouken smirking. "What?" Yuusaku asks. _

_ "Nothing," Ryouken says. "You just remind me of someone." _

_ "Yuusaku." _

_ "Hm?" _

_ Yuusaku turns towards Ryouken. He feels the starlight on his eyes and cheeks; across from him, Ryouken's hair glows. "My name is Yuusaku. Maybe I remind you of him." _

_ Ryouken only chuckles louder, his voice echoing off of the silent landscape. "Maybe so.” _

* * *

When Ryouken next opens his eyes, Playmaker is staring back at him – his reflection, eyes filled with tears that leak down his cheeks. Ryouken blinks them away hurriedly, but he still sees himself in the mirror, not as who he should be, but as Yuusaku's avatar. It's then that he remembers whose life he's living, whose body he's in –

Ahead of him, Ryouken sees a path lit with stars that travels to the end of the tunnel. However, instead of the tunnel leading to more tunnels and turning into an endless maze, the path appears to open up to a beautiful, blue sky – a familiar sight, as if Ryouken were just looking at this same view earlier today. 

He leans forward on his board and dashes ahead, crouching low so that the wind can whip at his face. Light fills his vision, and for a moment he goes blind, and then blue erupts all around him, twisting and twirling him in a datastorm of pixels. Ryouken clings to his board and rides out the waves, until at last he breaks the surface and finds himself floating across the water on his duel board, out in the middle of Stardust Road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think there will be maybe 20-21 chapters in this story, so we're nearing the end, folks! once more, thank you for sticking with this story! i have another crossover all planned out, and i'll be doing 12 (maybe 14) one-shots for Vrains Weeks from July 9-22, so stay tuned for more writing! ^^


	18. eighteen。

Ryouken doesn't even hesitate for a second: he's walked across Stardust Road before and he knows he can do it again. He leaps off his board, forgetting that it might be faster than running, and lands on the milky water below. His feet splash but do not sink in, and before Ryouken can even contemplate how that works, he runs as fast as he can across the water. Droplets of water flick behind him and create small ripples in the pristine surface. Ahead of Ryouken, he sees the stars and the moon – and in the far distance, Ryouken can see the edge of the cliff.

"Yuusaku!" Ryouken screams. "Yuusaku! Where are you?"

His voice echoes and bounces off the water. Panic rising in his chest, Ryouken swings his head from left to right. He sees the stars, and the flicker of lights, and –

* * *

_ Yuusaku wakes up lying on the milky water overlooking Stardust Road. Above him is a pointed cliff dripping with dew; Yuusaku raises a shaky hand and brushes his fingers across his forehead. He notices the smoothness of his skin and his clean nails, and when he wipes himself clean, he feels soft hair on his fingertips. _

Who am I?  _ he wonders. _

_ Rolling to the side, Yuusaku sees his reflection and gasps. It's the boy he's switched bodies with, Ryouken. Yuusaku recognises the soft, white hair and piercing, blue eyes. He drags a hand down his jaw and to his chin, trying to keep his breaths steady. _

What even happened?  _ he thinks to himself. Yuusaku doesn't recognise this place, nor does he remember how he got here or why he feels like he's woken up from a slumber. For a second, his memories feel hazy and distant, as if perhaps he's been resting from an eternal slumber. And then, as Yuusaku rolls himself to the side, he sees Stardust Road stretching out before him and the pinnacle of light splitting through the moon. _

_ Yuusaku remembers now. He remembers logging into Link Vrains and feeling an electric current run through his body. He remembers rolling and gasping in agony on the dewy ground beneath the starry sky, crying over and over again for someone to hear him. He remembers trying to turn off his duel disk, or call AI and Kusanagi and plead to them to come and find him; but then he couldn't move his body, not even an inch, and it was moving on its own, convulsing on the ground. _

_ The last sight Yuusaku remembers is of the stars in the sky. They were blurrier, his eyes filled with tears, but he remembers seeing the sky, and falling towards the reflection of it on Stardust Road. _

_ Now, Yuusaku looks ahead at the beautiful sight. Is he dead? Has he woken up in the afterlife? Does the afterlife look like Stardust Road? Yuusaku hopes so. Carefully, he looks left and right to see if anyone else has woken up with him, but as far as he can see across the milky starscape there isn't another person around. _

_ " .... saku." _

_ Yuusaku tilts his head to the side. He hears it, faintly, and he mouths a name back: "Ryouken." _

_ "Yuusaku!" _

_ Yuusaku hears it clearly this time, ringing like a symphonious melody in his ears. He straightens up, ignoring the slight buzz running down his spine, and steps forward. The watery path of Stardust Road ripples and flickers with each step he takes, but his foot never sinks through to the ocean itself; no, Yuusaku walks upon in like some god. In the distance, Yuusaku hears his name over and over again, now a mantra shouted to the world, and in reply Yuusaku cries a name back. _

_ "Where are you?" Yuusaku says. "Directions! Give me directions!" _

_ "Here!" _

* * *

Ryouken hears Yuusaku loud and clear, and in the glow of the moonlight he sees a faint shadow. It can't be anything else, not even a cloud nor a bird. Ryouken dashes off down the road, screaming Yuusaku's name over and over again. The closer he gets, the louder his heart becomes, until it almost sounds like splashing footsteps, and then the beat of  _ two hearts – _

Two.

Ryouken spins around on his heel just as he feels something brush against his elbow. He catches blue and pink in the corners of his vision. With one last cry, Ryouken turns his head and bellows, "Yuusaku!"

Stardust Road glitches, the sky and stars and sea pixelating momentarily. Ryouken sucks in a breath and pinches his eyes closed.  _ I’m too late, _ he thinks.  _ This is it, this is the end of Link Vrains, I’ve failed, Yuusaku is still dead, and everything I’ve done is worth nothing – _

"Ryouken."

His eyes flicker open. Standing before him is Yuusaku, green eyes glowing like the bottoms of glass bottles. His blue and pink bangs, normally stiffly gelled over his eyes, flutter and blow in the breeze, and bits of his hair along his ears flutters down along his dusty-pink cheeks. He looks like he's been running, lips parted as he pants. He looks alive though, more alive than he's even been.

And then Yuusaku smiles – properly, truly, without even having to pull his lips up with his finger.

"I found you," Yuusaku says, voice barely a whisper.

Ryouken stands, shell-shocked. Yuusaku is alive. He's well too, and breathing, and that means Link Vrains hasn't arrived yet, and that there's still time, and that Yuusaku can still be saved –

And Yuusaku is himself. He's standing there as Yuusaku, not as Ryouken; and Ryouken is himself too, he realises as he peers over the side of the path and sees his familiar reflection in the rippled water.

"Ryouken." Yuusaku clears his throat with a slight cough.

"I found you," Ryouken says. He blushes when he realises that Yuusaku has already said that, but it feels like a phrase that should be said again and again, for as long as they’re together. Carefully, Ryouken stretches out a hand and spreads his fingers. "Is it ... really you?"

Yuusaku doesn't reach out, bristling away from the contact.

"Forgot," Ryouken says, drawing his hand back. "But it's you, right? Really you?"

"Who else does it look like?" Yuusaku says. And then he tacks on a, "My bad. Yes. Yes ... it's me. But what are you ..." Yuusaku glances around. "What are you doing here?"

"To see you," Ryouken blurts out. "I came to see you."

"Oh." Yuusaku stares down at his feet, awkwardly shuffling them back and forth. "Thanks. But how? I mean, how could you find me here?"

"Stardust Road," Ryouken says. He gestures around him, first at the stars, then back behind him at the road twisting and twirling around the ocean. "There's a place by my house, and your house, and even in the back-door to Link Vrains at Sol Technologies –"

"You were at Sol Tech?" Yuusaku interrupts.

"Yeah, with your friends –"

Yuusaku's face bursts pink, then he raises his hands to cover his burning cheeks. A faint groan escapes his lips, quiet enough to be picked up by the wind, but still loud enough to make Ryouken chuckle. This only makes Yuusaku blush more. From behind his hands, he mutters, "Why would you take those two along?"

"Your friends? They're cool. They helped me break into Sol Technologies, and right now they're trying to stop duelists from logging into Link Vrains."

Yuusaku peeks between his fingers. "That's what happened, right? With me, and with everyone else ..."

"A glitch," Ryouken says. "Link Vrains killed over a thousand Den City duelists from electrocution caused by a computer malfunction. It's not really anyone's fault, but, well, if we had to point the finger at anyone it would be Sol Technologies. So that's why your friends are around. Honestly" – Ryouken stretches his arms above his head – "they aren't so bad."

"Says you."

Ryouken feels a smirk spread across his lips. "Says me." And then he adds, "They're fun."

"That's a new word for annoying."

"They're as bad ... or as good ... as my friends."

Yuusaku chews on his lip before he answers. "Your friends are quieter."

"Have you  _ met  _ Spectre?" Ryouken says, one eyebrow poised in the air.

After a moment, Yuusaku lets out a sigh and rolls his eyes. "Fair," he says, and laughs a little, the sound more like a breath of air than anything else. But Ryouken hears it, and he laughs too. Their voices echo across the water and into the starscape, twisting and twirling, connecting and reconnecting. When Ryouken lets out another breath, he sees Yuusaku smiling in the corners of his vision.

Ryouken doesn't mean to say it, but the words come out before he can reel them back: "Thinking about a good dream there?"

Ryouken has never seen someone's face turn so red. Yuusaku's already-rosy cheeks turn to flames and he buries his face in his hands once more. "Where did you hear that from?" he says, voice muffled. "Did you teach AI that? He was – he's been saying that for a while now."

"Oh no," Ryouken says, "that is entirely your AI and his dirty mind. Maybe the Hanoi are correct about some things and AIs will poison our minds ... or maybe AIs just poisoned themselves."

Yuusaku snorts. "That's just AI." Abashedly, he rubs the back of his head, but he stills his arm a moment later, eyes turned out to the stars all around them. "I ... didn't know you could walk out here."

"Me neither," Ryouken admits. "But I'm glad I tried. This place exists in Link Vrains, actually. It's just as beautiful as the Stardust Road by your house, or by that hotdog truck. And I don't know why, but out here, in Link Vrains, it's a little bit brighter, like whoever programmed and coded this area added a few extra details to make it extra special. Lucky, huh?"

"Yeah."

"It's the right kind of details too," Ryouken says. "Not too cluttered, not too busy. Just the sky, and the sea, and the stars."

"Three things."

"Yeah, three ..." Ryouken's eyes widen. "Back then, Yuusaku, did you ..."

"Did I see you?" Yuusaku nods his head. "I think so. I think ... on the beta trial ..."

"And you didn't remember?"

Yuusaku rubs the back of his head and glances down at his feet. His cheeks still retain some of their rosy hue, but now his eyes are curved a bit, like his smile is slowly spreading across his face. "Yeah, sorry ... I pulled two all-nighters so that I could be online for the beta release. I honestly don't even remember those two days, but I'm glad ... I saw you."

"I saw you too," Ryouken says, and then groans at how lame that sounds. "I mean, thanks, I guess. For finding me. But we didn't know each other back then –"

"We did," Yuusaku says. "Remember, it was only just a month ago for me. I was still switching bodies with you, but then you ... you didn't know who I was."

"I didn't remember you," Ryouken says upon realising. "Sorry."

"It's fine."

Around them, Stardust Road gives a violent, tremulous flicker. Ryouken shivers as the air goes colder, and behind him he hears something crackle and pop. It's not a familiar sound, and in fact it's one that makes his blood grow cold and his breath turn faint. This can't be a good sign, can it? Across from him, Yuusaku looks equally worried.   
  
"You know what will happen, right?"   
  
Yuusaku nods.   
  
"If you fail?"   
  
Yuusaku nods again. He presses his lips in a thin line, and then slowly sinks his teeth down into his flesh. "I remember the feeling of logging in, and losing consciousness. I know what's going to happen, and I can't ..." He clenches his hands hands in tight fists, knuckles white and pointed. "I won't let anyone sign into Link Vrains. I'll shut it down."   
  
Ryouken gestures behind him at the starry path. "If you follow that road, You'll head back into the back-door to Link Vrains. Maybe there's a way to stop it in there, or in here ..."   
  
Beneath them, Stardust Road briefly disappears. Ryouken feels like the the floor has been pulled out from under him, and he gasps in a breath that he quickly sucks back. He stretches out a hand too, and he doesn't realise until afterwards that he's latched onto Yuusaku. To his surprise though, Yuusaku doesn't pull away, at least not until both of them are safely standing on solid ground.   
  
"It's fine," Yuusaku tells him. "I think I know where to go."   
  
"Back into Link Vrains?"   
  
"Back into Link Vrains."   
  
Yuusaku begins to pull his hands away, but Ryouken takes one of them in his own hand. He holds it there, reading Yuusaku's eyes for any sign of hesitation or fear – but Yuusaku just stares back at him, as if waiting to see what Ryouken does next.    
  
"So you remember me when you log into Link Vrains, here's my online handle." Ryouken scribbles something down with a permanent marker he pulls out from a slit in the side of his duel disk, and then he offers the pen out to Yuusaku. "Now write yours."   
  
"You already know mine," Yuusaku mumbles, turning away as his cheeks begin to darken.   
  
"Yeah," Ryouken says, "but don't forget that I forgot you last time. Help me remember you this time, so that I don't ever forget."   
  
The corners of Yuusaku's eyes soften. His cheeks loosen, and his lips quirk in a faint smile. Like a panorama slowly coming into view, Yuusaku's entire face lights up with the sparkling glow of Stardust Road. He turns to Ryouken and takes the pen in his hands, bitten-to-the-quick nails scratching along the side of the pen.   
  
"Don't forget it this time," Yuusaku says with a sly smile.   
  
"I won't."   
  
Yuusaku spins the pen around his fingers and over the back of his hand, and then poises it right above Ryouken's empty palm. Ryouken sucks in a breath at the contact, and he watches as Yuusaku brings the pen down on his palm, creating a thick dot –   
  
And then the pen drops. Yuusaku disappears in the blink of an eye, no flicker or glitch or anything. Ryouken blinks a couple of times, thinking maybe the moonlight is in his eyes, but when he glances around Yuusaku is nowhere in sight. There's just a single, ugly dot in the middle of his palm from the pen, and the unearthly, chilling silence all around him.   
  
Ryouken swallows thickly. "Yuusaku?" he says, voice soft. Then, louder: "You there, Yuusaku?"   
  
The wind answers him with a strong gust that whips Ryouken hair in front of his eyes. Growling, Ryouken brushes it aside. The lights seem dimmer out here, and Ryouken wonders where he is in Stardust Road. Is this out by his house? Or by Yuusaku's? Is he still connected to Link Vrains, or the back-door to Link Vrains? Come to think of it, Ryouken realises that he's not sure how he ended back up in his body, or how he got here.   
  
Glancing over his shoulder, Ryouken searches the skies and sea for Yuusaku. "Hey, Yuusaku. Where'd you go? Call out to me again. Say my name once more, I'm listening! Say my name –" Ryouken freezes. "Your name ... your name! Your name is Yuusaku!"   
  
The stars twinkle and flicker around him, as if responding to Ryouken's calls.   
  
"It's all right. It's fine. I'll find you in Link Vrains. I promise. Yuusaku, that's your name. I can work with that. There's a search system. I'll check online forums. Yuusaku. Your name is Yuusaku. I won't ever forget it."   
  
Ryouken clenches his hands together and brings them to his chest. "You're going to save the world. I just know it – I can feel it. And soon, Yuusaku, you'll be in Link Vrains where I can see you. I'll see you again." Unclenching his hands, Ryouken sees the black stain across his palm, and beneath his hand lies the marker. He snatches it off and brings the tip to his palm. He draws one line –   
  
And freezes.   
  
_ What was I going to write? _ __  
__  
_... oh that's right, your name. Your name. Your name is ...  _ __  
__  
_ What's your name again? _ __  
  
A dark pit settles in Ryouken's stomach.  _ What's your name? Who are you? I just met you, and talked to you. I heard your name over and over again, so why – why can't I remember you now?  _ __  
  
Heart rising into his throat, Ryouken spins around on the path of Stardust Road. He sees soft lights in the distance that must be lining the boardwalk, but there's not a figure in sight. Out on the water, the only sounds he can hear are of his erratic heartbeat and gasping breaths. His lips quiver to pronounce the name on the tip of his tongue. Ryouken remembers – he swears he does! But when he tries to say it, or even think it, the name eludes him.   
  
"Why ..." he mutters.   
  
__ Why have I forgotten you? I came here to see you, to save you! You've been at the front of my mind, in every thought of mine, for as long as I can remember. And I came all the way here to see you – because you're special. You're my special person, someone I've been meaning to see for a long time. So why? Why can't I remember your name?    
  
"Who are you?" he whispers to the sea. "What's your name?"    
  
Then, with shaking hands, Ryouken holds out his three fingers. "Three ... things," he says. "Three reasons to find you, three reasons to remember you by. I have them, I do!   
  
"One: you're from Den City.   
  
"Two: you're a fellow duelist who uses an old-fashioned duel disk.   
  
"Three: your avatar ... your name ..." Ryouken clenches his fists. "I can't remember your name, but I remember your face, so I have to see you again!" With a heave, Ryouken tumbles to his knees. He doesn't sob, but he feels something crackle and burn deep within his throat. "I ... failed ... but you ... but you're going to win, so come and find me!"


	19. nineteen。

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone! just wanted to give you an update that this fic will be ending **this Thursday, July 05** at 20 chapters. i have everything all written out, and you even get a title card for the twentieth chapter. i'll be sad to see this story go, but on Thursday i'll be sure to give you some updates about future vrains writing projects, and maybe even a spoiler for the new crossover :3  
>  thank you so much, everyone! <3

Yuusaku dashes off and down the starlit path. The lights have begun to disappear in Stardust Road, glitching with painful, ugly red slashes. The coding even appears to be breaking apart, and seeing Stardust Road disappear reminds Yuusaku of the mounting peril of Den City and Link Vrains.

It's happening. Soon, the glitch will attack Link Vrains and all the new duelists logging into the system. Yuusaku can even feel the air crackle against his skin. He wonders what it felt like to already-registered duelists in Link Vrains – did they know something bad had happened too? And what did they do? Did they log out? Did they investigate?

_ I wish I asked Ryouken more about this,  _ Yuusaku thinks.  _ In the library, there were books – but I wanted to ask  _ him.

_ Ryouken. That's his name. Kougami Ryouken. I won't forget it. _

Yuusaku clenches his fist and brings it up to his chest. Then he leaps up into the air and onto his D-Board, and the ground beneath him melts away as he dashes as far as he can. Just like Ryouken instructed, Yuusaku heads back through the pathway and into a maze-like area bordered by tall, steel walls. Electricity bounces off of the surfaces and crackles under his feet. Yuusaku looks left and right, unsure of where he should go, until he sees the fizzle of Stardust Road leading him to the left.

Yuusaku dashes down the path. The only time Yuusaku has ridden a D-Board is when he lived Ryouken's life, and so using his own avatar to ride the board feels so uncomfortable. Uneasily, Yuusaku spreads his legs and balances himself. He feels too light, and when he turns, for a second he feels like he'll slide right off the board and into the deep chasm below. But his feet seem to have some kind of webbing that keeps his standing even when he pulls hairpin turns.

Just as he rounds a corner, his duel disk begins to buzz with a message from Aoi. Yuusaku sinks his teeth into his lip. Ryouken said that he enlisted the help of Aoi and Naoki, and while Yuusaku doesn't particularly care for them or their assistance, he swallows his pride and answers the call. The screen appears with a quiet  _ blip!,  _ and Aoi's appears in the projection. 

"Fujiki," she says, "I did it. Nobody wants to log onto Link Vrains tonight."

Yuusaku nods his head.

Naoki pushes himself into the screen too, and his eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. "Where  _ are  _ you, Fujiki?"

"Inside Link Vrains. Aoi." Yuusaku levels her with a stern glare. "Is it possible to shut off Link Vrains from the inside?"

"You'll need to mess with the programming of the system, and that should be ... right where you are. You'll find a section with a computer. Go there and change the programming. Turn the whole city of Link Vrains off. That shouldn't hurt anyone. But Fujiki ..." Aoi bites her lip with her round, white teeth. "My brother might try to stop you."

"Then you deal with him," Yuusaku says.

Aoi flinches. "But I told him it's the Hanois ..."

"Then tell him what's really going on. A broadcast alone isn't going to stop people from logging into Link Vrains. Make it so they can't log in  _ at all."  _ Yuusaku glances over his shoulder to where he can see the starlit path taking him deeper into the maze. "I'm going to shut down the system. Keep me updated through texts. Don't call." And before either of them can argue, Yuusaku ends the call and speeds down the tunnel.

Lightning crackles beneath his feet. The edge of his board becomes singed every time he touches a spark of electricity, and Yuusaku groans when he feels something crackle against his feet. He pulls his board up, but soon he has to dodge to the side as another electric current lunges at him.

He must be getting closer. Yuusaku leans into his board, lowering his body down towards his feet, and crouches to get the most speed. The wind whips at his face, crackling against his skinsuit. The air feels chillier and colder down here too, and as Yuusaku's eyes struggle to find the remaining light of Stardust Road, he hears someone's voice echo down the hallway.

"This is Zaizen Aoi representing Sol Technologies. I'd like to formally apologise for the recent messages regarding Link Vrains' release in Den City."

Yuusaku swallows.  _ She wouldn't ... _

"Sadly, those messages are true. Link Vrains is under attack by the Hanois, and tonight the terrorist organisation will strike once more in an attempt to claim the lives of Den City duelists. It is with great regret that I inform you all that Link Vrains will  _ not  _ be released tonight, and will likely be shut down in order for Sol Technologies programmers and coders to effectively address the situation.

"I repeat, please do not log in –"

The message ends.

Yuusaku's blood runs cold. He hears the static crackle, and then all of Link Vrains vibrates underneath him. Electricity runs along Yuusaku's body, and he remembers the feeling of paralysis, the pain he experienced when he died from the electric shock. The ghost feeling returns, and Yuusaku's breath quickens to sharp pants.

He can't die down here. He can't.

Crawling down onto his board, Yuusaku charges around the next corner and into a room filled with computers. Floor to ceiling screens blare all around him. In the middle of the room is a large tower, and circled around the tower are smaller computer stations with little screens. Yuusaku guides his D-Board down to the computer and stumbles off it. All across the screen are lines upon lines of code, all the programming that went into Link Vrains.

Yuusaku plops down in the chair and brings his hand to the keyboard.  _ Just watch me, Ry – _

_ Ryo? _

His heart skips a beat.  _ What's ... your name?  _ Yuusaku feels something wet and sticky collect on his lashes, and he brushes his hands across his eyes. Tears? There are tears clinging to his fingertips, little salty drops that fall onto his pants legs.

_ I'm crying. _

Yuusaku brings his other hand up to his face, and then stifles back a small sob. His throat hurts, and his chest hurts, and it feels like when he wakes up from nightmares not even sure what he should be crying about. His thoughts are stuck in the corners of his mind, and no matter how hard Yuusaku wracks his brain, he can't remember anything he's supposed to. Who has he forgotten? What's his name?

_ Three things about him,  _ Yuusaku thinks.  _ That's right, there are at least three things about him that I remember. His ... his face ... what did he look like? White hair, right? And blue eyes? That's two. And then – what did he do? He was a duelist, but that doesn't matter. What matters? What means something? What's ... what's his name? _

His eyes flicker up to the screen. Yuusaku remembers sitting from a tall computer, fingers ghosting over the keys. He's coded before, hasn't he? He was at a computer just like this, making sure that Link Vrains duels went according to plan and no coding went haywire?

_ He was a hacker too. _

Yuusaku squares his shoulder, cracks his wrists and knuckles, and then begins to code. His fingers whip across the keys, adding, subtracting, editing. Yuusaku has seen these codes before, and he knows what to do to alter them. At times, he sees his reflection in the computer screen, and he startles himself when he sees the fierce, determined expression. He's often been told that he looks apathetic, and for the most part Yuusaku has believed everyone. But now? He's determined.

_ No one  _ will die from Link Vrains tonight.

Behind him, Yuusaku hears the electricity crackle and buzz. It creeps through the hallway and into the room, and Yuusaku sees sparks in the corner of his vision. The electricity is sentient, of course, so there's no way it'll specifically follow him around the room; but Yuusaku also knows that if he gets trapped here, he'll –

Link Vrains  _ flickers. _

* * *

_ "What? Is Link Vrains down for maintenance again? Seriously?" _

Ryouken rolls his eyes. The sky keeps on flickering, and the lights all along Stardust Road erupt and glow with an ugly, red light. It looks like blood has been split throughout the sky and into the water, and from time to time the city seems to glitch out. Ryouken has never seen a bug like that before.

He climbs off the couch where he'd been relaxing, and grabs his duel disk. Right on the front page of his web browser are a series of articles and videos about the recent glitch, posted not even minutes ago and already with millions of views.

_ "Link Vrains has been receiving some interesting patches and updates,"  _ one article says.  _ "The sky appears to be changing colours, and certain buildings are flickering and disappearing. One might say this is because of a change in coding; however, Zaizen Akira of Sol Technologies asssures Link Vrains duelists that it is merely a new spectacle to admire." _

Ryouken snorts. Sounds like someone hacked into Link Vrains. It's happened before: duelists have hacked into Sol Technologies programming and drawn dicks in the sky, or changed the sound effects for duels to fart noises. Harmless, albeit annoying, hacks like that. This looks far different though. Outside the window, Ryouken can see the sky leaking like an open wound, and Stardust Road has transformed from a fantastical sight into an ugly wasteland.

Slowly, Ryouken creeps out to his balcony. Without the moonlight, the sky is inky black save for the bloody coding, and the sea is equally dark with churning waters. Ryouken stands against the railings, fingers clinging to the cold metal. It looks so horrible out there, like the road is crying bloody tears. It looks like someone tried to ruin  _ his  _ beautiful view.

And yet Ryouken can't take his eyes off it.

* * *

Yuusaku startles as something zaps him on the shoulder. He grunts in pain, but keeps on writing all the way to the end. When at last he tears his eyes away, he sees the electric tendrils all throughout the room, clinging to the walls and ceiling and floor. The room has grown darker as Yuusaku has cut the power to all of Link Vrains, and yet the glitch still crawls around, looking for any sort of victim.

Swallowing thickly, Yuusaku pulls himself away from the computer. He needs to head back. He needs –

Something snakes around his ankle. Screaming, Yuusaku tumbles to the ground. He scissor-kicks at the electricity, and then groans as he feels the aftershock traveling through his bones. His head feels dizzy, and briefly his vision flickers like the programming in his body is shutting down. Weakly, Yuusaku pulls himself up towards his D-Board that he's left lying on the ground.

_ I need to get out of here,  _ he thinks.  _ I need to get back to Den City – _

Another electric snake zaps him. Yuusaku howls and crawls the rest of the way onto the board, and no sooner has he clung to the sides does he shoot off and down the hallway. In the dark, the only thing Yuusaku can see are the electric currents; a bit of light flickers off them and illuminates the path, but Yuusaku can't see the walls of the maze until just before he hits them.

His heart climbs up into his throat.

_ Please, help me. _

Yuusaku veers the board sharply to the side to avoid crashing. He hears a screeching sound as the side of the D-Board drags along the steel wall, and Yuusaku tries to correct himself before he tips over. Just as he's regained his balance though he has to turn again, and again, and each time Yuusaku swallows thickly as he avoids crashing into the wall.

_ Where is Stardust Road?  _ Yuusaku wonders.  _ Is it still here? Will it still be around when Link Vrains is finished? What ... did I do? Did I save everyone, or did I fail? _

The glitch zaps over his head. Yuusaku dives his board down, down, down into the belly of the maze, as far as he can get without touching the blue electricity below. Yuusaku doesn't even know where he should be going. How did he even get to this place?

_ Him ... who is he? What's his name? _

Yuusaku throws his head to the side, and his board crashes into the wall. He tries to overcorrect himself, but that just makes the board tip even more, and Yuusaku tumbles off the side and clings to the edge. His feet dangle below, mere feet away from the glitch. Gritting his teeth, Yuusaku tries to pull himself up.

He's stuck.

_ No. _

Tears prick at Yuusaku's eyes. He sees the light over his head, and just above him, cut into the wall itself, appears to be a passageway – no, a doorway. Yuusaku's heart clenches. That has to be the way out, right? There can't be any other way.

Grunting, Yuusaku swings himself to the side. If he can get his legs up on the board, then he can guide himself up. However, as soon as he begins swinging, his arms groan; the electricity has sapped his energy, and Yuusaku's vision grows hazier the longer he hangs. He needs to get out of here, and soon.

"Come ... on," Yuusaku tells himself. He clenches his muscles together and tries to pull himself up, but every muscle and bone in his body screams in agony. He tries to pull his foot up, but nothing in him wants to move.

Then, Yuusaku gets an idea ...

Carefully, he begins to drive the board up. He's never clung from it before, and it's not like he's even seen anyone drive a D-Board from below, but slowly Yuusaku levitates up towards the doorway. He hangs above it and begins to swing himself forward, gaining momentum, feeling the electricity crackle across his skinsuit –

And then he flies through the air and lands roughly on the ground. The air in his lungs whooshes out of him, and Yuusaku coughs and coughs from the aches and pains all over his body. His vision spins, and when he opens his eyes, he can barely see in front of him. The doorway is dark and looks to be some kind of inner tunnel – who knows where that leads to. But then Yuusaku sees something faint on his hands, like ... ink.

_ Hey, Yuusaku – _

_ "So you remember me when you log into Link Vrains, here's my online handle." _

Yuusaku's eyes widen. It's him.

Wincing at the movement, Yuusaku uncurls his hand. The writing is far neater than anything Yuusaku could have ever managed, and it looks like a tattoo across his palm. But written on his hand are three little words:  _ i love you. _

Yuusaku's eyes fill with tears. He sees blue and white, and it feels like someone is holding his hand, guiding him along into the darkness and then back out into the light. Yuusaku can barely take in a breath; his mind spins and twists and twirls, and between his cracked lips he whispers, "But this isn't your name ... How can I find you with this?"

Ahead of him, Yuusaku sees a milky starlit path. His board has re-materialised in front of him, and Yuusaku thumbs at the smooth, metal siding. Then he tugs himself up on the board, pressing his face against the metal, and closes his eyes. It doesn't matter if he crashes again. It doesn't matter where he goes. If he's on the path to Stardust Road, he'll always make it home.

Pulling his hands up to his chest, Yuusaku says to himself:  _ Three reasons to see you again: one, I want to duel you; two, I want to talk to you; and three, I want to say 'I love you' too." _

With those thoughts in his mind, the D-Board bullets down the trail and out of Link Vrains. Yuusaku doesn't see where he goes, for when he next opens his eyes, the world is white and dusty, and he's not sure where he's ended up.

* * *

Ryouken blinks his eyes. For a moment, Stardust Road turns as red as blood, and all of his insides feel hot and sticky. But then the sky changes to a beautiful, aquamarine, and Ryouken's heart thrums to a slow, steady space.

He's standing  _ on  _ Stardust Road, out in the middle of the sea, Behind him, Ryouken sees Link Vrains bustling with life; even from this far distance, the city is loud and populated. There are duelists zipping around on pixelated paths, and other duelists wandering along the seaside boardwalk. Ryouken hovers just above Stardust Road – not even on his D-Board, but with his feet planted in the milky path.

_ What was I doing out here?  _ Ryouken wonders. He glances down at his duel disk, and then at his hands. There's a faint, black dot in his palm, like he's dropped ink on his hand and smudged it away. But there's no other sign of what he was doing out on Stardust Road, save for ...

Oh.

There are tears in his eyes.

Hastily, Ryouken brushes them away and rubs his hands on his slacks. Why was he crying? Ryouken doesn't feel pain anywhere. Did he fall off his D-Board or something? There's nothing on his recent duel log, nor are there any reminders in his calendar.

_ What even happened today? _

Ryouken glances once more out at Stardust Road, all the way to the end of the path. It doesn't look like anyone's on the other side though, but the sight truly has never looked more beautiful. It looks untouched, timeless. Ryouken remembers the time it turned the colour of blood, and he shivers. That's a sight he never wants to remember again.

Then, with a shrug, Ryouken hops back on his D-Board and surfs back to his house. Whatever he was doing out here, perhaps he'll remember it later.


	20. twenty。

"Aoi."

She stiffens. Her brother called her, and she didn't hang up on him, but when he answered, she merely accepted the call and then looked away. Aoi can't even face her brother. She doesn't want to see what horrible expression he's making. She doesn't want to see the hatred and distrust on his face. She can already feel the hate emanating through the phone that she holds up to her face.

Besides her sits Naoki. Unlike her call with Yuusaku where Naoki bounced in to his opinion, Naoki is dead-silent next to her and hasn't spoken a word since the call started. His shoulders are squared and his head remains forward. Aoi wonders if he might excuse himself to the kitchen, but she doesn't want to speak, or draw any more attention to herself.

"Aoi."

She looks down at her lap.

Akira coughs. "If you're not going to look at me, then fine. But at least tell me what you've done."

Aoi's shoulders stiffen. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see the notifications in her duel disk – all of her messaging apps, all of her social media accounts; they're all trending hundreds of messages from duelists all across the globe. When her message got across, it went live in Link Vrains and hundreds of duelists logged out even before Yuusaku shut down the system. Now, twenty minutes after Link Vrains' supposed arrival, not a single duelist from Den City has logged in. In fact, barely any duelists remain in Link Vrains itself. Everyone was too scared the glitch would come after them, so most duelists returned to the real world, or hid in their virtual houses protected by strong anti-virus software.

It worked.

But Aoi's heart feels heavier than an anvil.

"What did you _do?"_ Akira says. He doesn't shout, but the words still cause Aoi to flinch like she's been shocked.

"You saw," Aoi says, voice weaker than a whisper. "You already know."

"Then _why?_ That's what I'm wondering about."

Slowly, Aoi slides her gaze to the phone. Akira is, without a doubt, livid. His eyebrows are meshed together over his small, blue eyes, and his lips are pressed in a thin line. All the sharp angles of his face are bunched together, and there are obvious stress lines around his eye and forehead. In fact, there are even deep, purpling bags under his eyes; he hasn't been sleeping well ever since the Hanois began fighting against Link Vrains.

"Tell me."

"Something was wrong in Link Vrains," Aoi says. "I ... saw it. I saw it on the screen with Yuusaku. There was a glitch, a malfunction – and you knew it too."

"From the Hanois –"

"From _you,"_ Aoi says. "From ... from someone else at Sol Technologies maybe, but if everyone in Den City logged in and got injured, _or worse,_ then the blame would have fallen on you. And so ... I stopped it. For you."

"For _me?"_ Akira hisses the words out between his bared teeths. "Are you saying you wrecked the reputation of Link Vrains and Sol Technologies for _me?"_

Aoi stiffens. "Did you know ... about the glitch?"

Akira's eyes widen, and for a moment he looks startled.

Aoi swallows a pit in her throat. "If you knew, and you followed through on this ... you could have hurt everyone, Akira. You could have hurt me, and Yuusaku, and Naoki, and all the dueling club. And – and what kind of reputation would that give Sol Technologies? Probably something worse than the minor backlash we're receiving here. I – I wanted to protect you, Akira."

Akira purses his lips.

"What if you lost me ..." Aoi says. She brings a hand to her heart. "Fujiki says that if the glitch went through and attacked duelists, that we would have died. Tonight, I planned on logging into Link Vrains as Blue Angel. Did you really want that to happen? Do you truly so much more about Link Vrains than about the lives of the duelists?"

Slowly, Akira's barriers peel away. He slumps forward, and the stress and worry across his face bleeds into harsh, painful guilt. He brings a hand to his face, and uses his thumb to massage the deep bags under his eyes. Aoi wishes he would come home –

She hears the door swing open behind her. Aoi hadn't been watching the camera move, or twist, but there in the doorway stands Akira and Hayami. Both of them look exhausted, no doubt having been completing damage control on the Link Vrains situation for over three hours. But they stand resolute, and in the little screen of Aoi's cell phone, Akira brings his hand away from his face.

"Aoi."

She runs to embrace him, falling into his arms. His hand lands atop her head and rustles her short, brown locks, and then lightly tugs at the stands, as if reminiscing about the times she had longer, twin-tailed hair. In return, Aoi presses her cheek to her brother's chest. One of his hands pulls her closer, and Aoi wraps her arms around his front.

"I want to live and duel in Link Vrains," Aoi says, "but I want to be in a world where no one gets hurt. I want everyone to have a chance to duel in Link Vrains without ever having to remember a terrible, tragic fate. And so I stopped the programming to save you, Akira. I did it all to protect you."

Akira doesn't say anything for the longest time. Neither does Naoki, and Aoi murmurs a silent prayer that the peanut gallery hasn't spoken up.

"I'm Blue Angel," Aoi says, "and I'm going to duel for myself and for others. But I can't duel if I don't have an audience, and so if Link Vrains isn't ready – please don't make a mistake you'll regret."

Aoi feels Akira stiffen, and she holds her breath ... and then lets it out when he rubs her shoulder and pulls her closer.

"I'll never lose you."

When Aoi glances over her shoulder, she sees Naoki – still silent – giving her a big thumbs up. And though her chest aches and mind tells her that she's made a mistake, she also thinks she's prevented a terrible, horrible tragedy. So what if a few people get upset? So what if there's some backlash? She's going to help her brother in whatever way she can.

"Not to interrupt," Naoki says, rubbing the back of his head, "but if you need tech support, I bet Fujiki could help you. He's good with computers."

Aoi nods in agreement.

"Is he the one who shut down Link Vrains?"

"Yep, and I'm sure he'll bring it back in one piece." Naoki gives them both a big thumbs up, and then laughs outright. "I'm sure he'd love to help – he's Link Vrains' biggest fan, and now one of the heroes too."

Aoi muffles a chuckle behind her hand. In a way, all three of them are the heroes of Link Vrains. But there was another person, wasn't there ... a boy like Yuusaku, but also not.

 _I wonder if we'll ever see him again,_ she muses, but before the thought can take root in her mind, Akira pulls her into another hug, and Aoi lets all her feelings wash away. She can worry and ponder another time. Right now, she wants to be right beside her brother.

* * *

When Yuusaku opens his eyes, he sees stars – bright, twinkling stars in a dark sky. He sucks in a shaky breath, but doesn't throw himself forward. Instead, he lies beneath the starry sky and watches as the world begins to blend together. It looks like the stars are forming into larger, greater stars, as if perhaps a black hole is sucking the world up.

It's then Yuusaku realises that he's crying. There are thick tears in his eyes, blurrying his vision. Yuusaku wipes the tears away with his fingertips, and then holds his hands up so that he can inspect the tears more closely. Most times when he awakens his breath comes in deep, gasping pants, and his heart threatens to leap out of his chest – but sometimes he wakes up with tears in his eyes, and Yuusaku never knows why he's crying.

Once his eyes are dry, he pushes himself up off the bed and stumbles down the hallway. It's late at night, and just before midnight. Yuusaku has an hour before the arrival of Link Vrains – the proper arrival, that is. It's been a week since the original release that Yuusaku shut down, and while there's been some backlash towards Sol Technologies, ultimately everyone still wants to duel and isn't going to remain salty forever.

The hotdog van is quiet, but when Yuusaku steps towards the door, he sees the flicker of computer monitors. Kusanagi and AI are both still awake; Kusanagi's chair turns to face him. He has deep bag under his eyes, and he nurses a cup of coffee between his hands.

"You thought you'd sneak out on your own, right?"

Yuusaku nods his head. He thought everyone would be asleep.

Kusanagi chuckles and takes a deep sip from his cup. "Well, if insomnia wasn't kicking my ass tonight, I'd probably be asleep right now. But ..." He pauses, his gaze lowering to the swirling, milky coffee. "I guess I'm excited for Link Vrains too."

From the table, AI comes bounding over. "We're going to hack into Link Vrains and watch the duels. After all, if Sol Technologies is running security, we already know it's gonna suck. The virtual world needs protectors like us."

Yuusaku chuckles softly. Akira hasn't apologised to any of them personally, and his message to Den City was unsurprisingly bland and cold-hearted: he didn't really want to slow down Link Vrains' release. But Yuusaku smiles as he thinks about Kusanagi and AI watching Link Vrains through the hotdog van's computer monitors. Maybe what Link Vrains needs are knights watching from the shadows – hidden saviours.

"Have fun," Kusanagi says.

"And sweet dreams, Mr. Play-ma-ker!" AI adds, wriggling his eyebrows.

Yuusaku's eyes widen. There was someone who said that ... right? Someone told him AI has been saying that. However, before Yuusaku gets a chance to answer, Kusanagi gives his shoulder a slight push, and Yuusaku stumbles towards the door.

"See you in the virtual world, Yuusaku."

Yuusaku dips his head. "Thanks," he says, and then he heads out the door. The sky is littered with stars dropping into the sea. Yuusaku glances down the long, winding road on the right. He remembers going to Link Vrains, and something ... terrible happened, something that was prevented in another time. And so when Yuusaku looks to the right, up to a lonely peak, his eyes widen.

It's a familiar sight, and yet he's not sure why. It looks like the sort of place someone might build a hilltop house upon, only currently it's just a rocky spire peering down into the swirling waters of Stardust Road. Something about that place beckons Yuusaku though, and he turns away from the longer, windier road and heads up towards the peak. The climb makes his legs and body ache, and by the time he reaches the top, Yuusaku feels like the air has grown thinner, and the temperature colder. He shivers in his school uniform – he hasn't changed out of it since yesterday. Then, Yuusaku settles atop the peak.

Ahead of him stretches Stardust Road, a milky trail leading out to the moon. Yuusaku wonders if he'll be able to walk across the water in Link Vrains, and a part of his mind remembers walking across the starlit waters before. Still, Yuusaku keeps his feet firmly planted on the dewy grass at the top of the hill, and he sits and watches the moon and stars twinkle.

On his arm, his duel disk buzzes. Just three more minutes left.

Yuusaku closes his eyes.

_Last week, Aoi, Naoki, and I saved Den City from a horrible accident that was meant to attack Link Vrains duelists. We prevented a tragedy that I'm not sure how I knew about, and yet it seemed like something that was just in my mind. I was on a mission to save Den City, my home that I've never felt comfortable in._

_But today ..._

Two minutes.

_There's a place waiting for me. Link Vrains is everything and more that I've ever wanted. It's a habitable dueling city where you can be anonymous. There's something for everyone there. And though I barely remember the beta version I played months ago, I've dreamt about all the beautiful sights in Link Vrains. And ... there's something more waiting for me there. Someone else._

One minute.

_I'm going to look for it. If there's one quest I'll take, it's an adventure to find the person I've been searching for. There's someone I remember ... someone special to me ... someone who's looking for me too._

Yuusaku's eyes flicker open just as his duel disk vibrates and the Link Vrains app _pings!_ Yuusaku opens the app, and he feels his consciousness drift away.

_Into the Vrains!_

When he next opens his eyes, he's standing at the city centre of Link Vrains. In his hazy memory, Yuusaku remembers these sights before, and he wonders if, when he played the beta version, he entered into this same square. There are new duelists all around him, dressed up in zany costumes like they hit "randomise" on the character creator just so that they could experience Link Vrains first; other avatars look pre-planned, as if the duelists spent hours labouring over their design.

Yuusaku glances down at his body. His avatar is just like how he created it: a black and green skin-suit with a large belt on his hips. Bringing his hands up to his head, Yuusaku yanks down one of his pink and yellow spikes. He dyed his hair, but it's the same style he has back in Den City. Hopefully no one recognises the similarities.

Glancing around, Yuusaku sees that most duelists are hanging around the city centre or wandering towards the dueling centre. Everyone is chatting away, and though the sound is loud, the virtual world seems to blank out the worst of the noise. As Yuusaku heads away from the congested pedestrian areas, the sounds of chatter are drowned out by the vroom of cars and D-Boards. Over his head pass hundreds of seasoned Link Vrains duelists engaged in Riding Duels.

On his arm rests his duel disk. Yuusaku spots the button for his own D-Board, but though he vaguely remembers trying to ride it, he doesn't try to manoeuvre. Instead, he turns into the main roads and heads towards ... somewhere. Yuusaku doesn't even know where he's trying to go, but something within him says to keep walking, keep moving forward – and so he does. Perhaps it's the desire to be away from busy, public areas.

On his way out of the city, Yuusaku spots both Naoki and Aoi in their avatars as Brave Max and Blue Angel. Naoki looks like an American comic book hero designed by a grade schooler; and Aoi looks like an idol mixed with a magical girl mixed with her favourite childhood storybook. Yuusaku doesn't speak to them, but he smiles a little when he sees them heading off towards the dueling centre.

Once Yuusaku is off the main roads, the city becomes a bit warmer and homelier. There are roads heading towards the suburban districts in Link Vrains, though Yuusaku stays far away from those. There are little turn-offs towards quaint cafes, and some of the places Yuusaku remembers from his first trip into Link Vrains. There's even a cute healthy cafe that, while Yuusaku isn't sure if it's his cup of tea or not, smells heavenly.

Yuusaku's attention is so focused on walking that he stumbles into someone. Leaping back, Yuusaku throws a hand behind him in case he falls, but he rights himself just before.

The other guy isn't so lucky. He lands smack on his bottom, and the bento box he's been holding spills out on the ground. Shaking his head, the guy looks up at him, looking ready to throttle him – and then his pale face splits into a grin. "New duelist!"

Yuusaku's eyes widen. "How can you –"

"You've got a little badge above your head – look!"

Yuusaku turns his head up. Sure enough, his online handle is displayed for the world to see. But there's also a little sticker by his name that says "My First Link Vrains" and Yuusaku finds it wholly insulting that he has to wear that too. Scowling, Yuusaku crosses his arms.

"Relax," the other guy says, "everyone's a newbie at first – and don't worry, I wasn't looking where I was going either, though if you're offering money, I won't say no."

Teeth in his lip, Yuusaku nods. He opens up the app for online banking and sends a couple dollars to the stranger. However, when the transfer is complete, Yuusaku sees the other person's online handle. Spectre. It sounds familiar too, as if maybe Yuusaku met Spectre during the beta version. But Spectre doesn't seem to recognise him, and so Yuusaku doesn't say anything.

He startles out of his thoughts when his duel disk gives another soft _ping!_ There's a friend request from Spectre.

"So we can duel sometime – you look like a strong duelist, and I'm picky about who I duel."

 _Is that supposed to make him feel better?_ Yuusaku wonders, but he doesn't say anything. He merely nods his head, excuses himself, and then keeps walking. Over his shoulder, he hears Spectre shout, "If you have a buddy, we can even do a two-v-two! I've got a friend who'd love to duel you!"

 _Wonderful,_ Yuusaku thinks. He doesn't care all that much for pvp anyways.

Past Spectre and the cafe, the tall buildings begin to thin away even more, and in the distance Yuusaku sees flickers of blue and white. He squints his eyes to see, and suddenly sunlight pours across the road. Yuusaku sees the light coming from around a corner, and so when he turns, he sucks in a breath.

Stardust Road.

It looks even more beautiful in Link Vrains. In the moonlight, it glistens and glows with beautiful, milky waters spreading around the sunny coast. The road snakes around both sides of the water: on one side there's a hilltop house, beautifully decorated with large, floor-to-ceiling windows that no doubt would let every drop of the sun- and starlight in; and on the other side, the road wraps around to what appears to be a little knoll that peers into the sea below.

No matter where Yuusaku looks, he sees Stardust Road in his eyes. Someone once told him that Link Vrains' Stardust Road was the most beautiful sight to see, and Yuusaku can certainly believe it. Though it's late at night, the road is lit with moonlight and street-lamps, and the combination of white and yellow light dapples the world.

Slowly, Yuusaku approaches the water and gazes down over the fence. The sea churns at the corners, bubbling against the white stone of the boardwalk.

_There's someone I remember ... someone special to me ... someone who's looking for me too._

Yuusaku hears footsteps behind him, and the notes sound so familiar that he heart spins into a knot before his body twists around. There, standing at the fork in the road, is a man with hair the colour of starlight. He's not dressed in any dueling avatar, but in light capris and a t-shirt. In his arms he has a paper bag shoved with bread and vegetables. He must be coming back from a shopping trip.

Yuusaku sucks in another breath just as he catches the man's eyes. He knows that face before, and judging by the way the man stares at him, he recognises Yuusaku too.

Yuusaku swallows thickly. He knows. _He knows he knows he knows – this guy! It's him!_ But Yuusaku shoves his teeth into his lip and crunches his hands into fists. Does he say something? Does he say –

"I found you ... I love you … Ryouken."

Ryouken drops his groceries across the floor. Apples and peaches roll everywhere, but it doesn't even seem to register in his mind.

Yuusaku doesn't care either. He goes to step forward, but all at once Ryouken is before him, hands hesitating to touch him. Yuusaku stumbles a bit with the contact too, but then he brings his hand up to hold onto Ryouken's using his thumb to massage the tender skin of his palm. Yuusaku's ratty nails scratch against Ryouken's unblemished skin, but if it bothers Ryouken any, he doesn't say anything.

Slowly, a gentle smile appears on Ryouken's face. "I love you too ..." He pauses, eyes flickering up to the name above his head. "Yuusaku."

Yuusaku's cheeks darken, just a bit, and he bows his head down. His other hand itches to do something, but Ryouken doesn't move or press against him. They stand together, one hand held together, for as long as they can. They breathe synchronously to the beat of their hearts, and as if the world has stopped for them, Yuusaku doesn't look at anything but the hand holding his.

Then, in Ryouken's deep, rich voice, he says, "You ever walked across Stardust Road before?"

"Maybe in a dream," Yuusaku whispers back. Carefully, he lifts his head up and to the side. The water twinkles back at him. Someone once told him that the waters in Link Vrains aren't filled with phosphorescence, just magic and coding. Then, even quieter, "Do you think we can?"

"Shall we try?"

Yuusaku tightens his grip on Ryouken's hand.

Out there, Yuusaku sees the sky, the sea, and the stars, and they've never looked more calming.

 _Three things,_ Yuusaku tells himself as he steps down onto the path, holding tightly to Ryouken's hand. _Things that come in threes are more important and more memorable to us. Things that come in threes_ matter more. _And so to me there are three special things in this world: you, me, and us._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! This is it – you’ve reached the end of the fic! Whether you’ve been here right since chapter one, or hopped on along the way, i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading, enjoying, kudo-ing and commenting on my fic! As my first vrains fic, i am floored by the positivity i received! I really can’t believe y’all liked this fic so much!
> 
> Since this is the last chapter, i would love to hear from everyone what they thought of their fic. I definitely don’t expect reviews, but if you want to even just let me know your favourite part, i’d be honoured to hear it ^^ my favourite scene to write had to be when Ryouken walks across Stardust Road back into Den City and when little Yuusaku and Kusanagi are cooking weenies (chapter 14).
> 
> For future projects, i have nine fics ready to go for Vrains Weeks (July 09-22), and five of those are datastorm. I based the series on Tsurezure Children, so expect some cute high school romance! And as for my next crossover, drum roll –  
> I’ll be writing a K Project crossover with vrains! If you haven’t seen the series before, it’s a supernatural action series about people with special powers fighting over turf on the city, and then a great, big mystery that began with a murder. It’s a pretty awesome series with some great “show not tell” storytelling that i’m going to try my best to work with ^^ please look forward to the new crossover on July 16, 2018. 
> 
> Again, thank you so much for the love and support – it means the world to me! And to me, you guys are all my special persons reminding me of three things: one, to love myself; two, to love my work; and three, to share my work with the community. So thank you and you’re welcome, vrains community! <3  
> love, lily-liegh <3

**Author's Note:**

> please come say hi and ask me questions on tumblr @ [lily-liegh](https://lily-liegh.tumblr.com/ask)


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